Runaway Lovers
by crazyfunnygirl
Summary: Ava and Peter were happily together for a year and a half until Ava has to go back to Hawaii. Peter and her have to decide if they want to stay in a relationship or move on. Which will it be? And what happens when they run into each other after another tragedy happens later in life? Warning: big time AU! Slight Crossover!
1. Chapter 1: Leaving?

**Hey! So I've decided to attempt another fanfic. This one is going to be really AU. Ava isn't Hispanic, she is Hawaiian.****She has family back in Hawaii, but she chose to come to Midtown to join SHIELD until graduation which her guardians, her aunt and uncle, agreed to as long as she stays in touch with them. Peter hasn't officially broken free of the Puny Parker thing but he has played basketball. Oh, and established Peter and Ava for now. Um well I guess thats it for now. This chapter is going to be pretty short because I'm really tired and I want to know if people will want to read more. So on with the story! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

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><p>Ava walked down the hall of Midtown High School to her locker so she could grab her books she would need before the bell rang. Things have been hectic between getting ready for graduation, the Sinister Six trying to bring more chaos to Midtown, and now with her aunt and uncle calling about their agreement.<p>

"Damn girl! I think Hell must be missing an angel!"

Ava turned to find the source of the arrogant voice that was speaking to her, and seen Flash Thompson coming out of the bathroom. Ever since Peter beat him one-on-one in basketball, Flash had been trying to get under Peter's skin by trying to flirt with Ava...Or do whatever that was. Ava, or Peter if he beats her to it, usually chews him out but this time she could only scrunch up her face in disgust and push him out of her way. She wasn't in the mood for his stupid antics. She stalked past him barely throwing a glare over her shoulder, "Leave me alone, Flash."

God, she hates when she's having a good day or week and she's _happy_ and then her aunt and uncle call and make her realize she isn't going to be able to stick around much longer and _be __happy_. Don't get her wrong, she loves her family back in Hawaii, and she really misses her favorite cousin, and surfing, God, she misses surfing, the power of the wave pushing her board as she cut through the water, feeling one with the wave. Everything she has always loved since she was a little girl is there, her family, her old friends, her old school, her favorite board, the ocean. Everything is in Hawaii, except one thing, except one_ person. _

She continued down the hallway until she finally got to her locker and opened it. She grabbed her books for her first two classes and slammed her locker shut, jumping when she seen Peter leaning on the locker next to hers. "Jeez Pete, you scared the crap out of me!"

"Sorry, babe, didn't mean to. How's my kitty cat?" He grins when she scowled at the endearments, but frowns when she turns and heads back down the way she came. What the hell? Not the reaction he usually gets. He caught up to her with a couple of long strides and grabbed her hand to stop her. "Hey! Whats wrong?"

Ava turned and for a second Peter was starring into glowing green eyes instead of her deep chocolate brown ones until the wild intensity faded back to its original dark shade. She looked down, mumbling, "Nothing."

"Now, why don't I believe you?" She could hear his slightly amused and concerned voice, but still didn't look up. She still hasn't told him that she is going to have to leave to go back to Hawaii in three weeks. He brought his hand up and turned her face so that she is looking at him. "Come on Ava, tell me. Are you having trouble controling the tiger again?"

She thought about blaming it on that because her emotions were starting to get the better of her. She just didn't know how she was suppose to tell him. She loved Peter, she did, and _he _is what making this so damned difficult, but she made a deal with her aunt and uncle and promised her favorite cousin she would return after graduating. She closed her eyes for a second and said, "No..."

"Then what is it?" He was searching her now open eyes as though they held the answer. She watched as his brows furrowed in concern and confusion. His bright blue eyes starring at her expectantly. "Babe, you can tell me anything. I love you Ava. Okay?"

Ava sighs in defeat. She had to tell him. "I love you too Peter. Thats what is making this so hard." She pauses, taking a deep breath when he looks at her completely confused now. "My aunt and uncle called this morning, and we talked about flight arrangements..."

"Flight arrangements? Why would you need flight arrangements unless you were-" He stopped himself as realization hit him like a Mac truck and looked at her with wide, questioning eyes.

"When I was trying to get them to agree to let me come here to Midtown they said only if I come back after graduation. And since graduation is in a couple of weeks they are getting everything ready." His hands drop from her waist and chin and he says, "So you're leaving?"

Her heart feels like it's about to explode out of her chest at his saddened expression and says, "Yeah Pete, I 'm going back to Hawaii."

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><p><strong>Please tell me what you think about it! <strong>


	2. Chapter 2: You kidding, right

**Thanks for those who left a review! Please R&R! I'd appreciate it! I wasn't planning on updating today but I don't have anything else to do today so I thought I would go ahead and update another chapter. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anyting.**

_" Yeah Pete, I'm going back to Hawaii" _

"Pete?...Peter?" Ava wasn't sure what she was expecting him to do, but she didn't expect him to stand there like he was in some sort of trance. She waved a hand in front of his face, but it didn't help. Then all of a sudden he started pacing in front of her and was about to say something when the bell rang signaling the start of class. Before all the students came rushing in Peter said,

" Ava, we'll talk about this at lunch. Meet at the usual place?" Peter hadn't looked at her once since he snapped out of his trance, and Ava was even more worried at that. Ava tightened her grip on her books and replied, " Yeah, usual place...Pete?" He still wouldn't look at her; he was looking at all the kids that were dragging themselves to class, but he stopped pacing and stood in front of her. She seen his tightened jaw and tensed shoulders and knew he was struggling, so she stepped closer and kissed his cheek. His muscles seemed to relax a little, and he finally glanced down at her, kissed her forehead and said, " I'll see you later."

Ava nodded but he was already down the hall. " Uh-oh looks like someone is having boyfriend trouble."

Ava turned to see the red-head with her camera hanging from her neck and her arm hooked around none other than the annoying little twerp, Sam Alexander. Though the two haven't started officially dating, they had grown really close to each other. And everyone, except poor clueless and in-denial Parker, knew they had feelings for each other including them. When asked why they haven't pursued a relationship yet, they just shrug and say it's not the right time for them. Nobody knows why it isn't and they don't ask so they just continue their day like normal. " Something like that. I told him."

Since the three of them have the same 1st class, they start heading in the same direction to their history class. " You kidding, right? About leaving? Just now? " Sam pointed behind them for emphasis. Sam was the only one who knew she was going to have to leave after graduation. He was like an annoying big brother to Ava so she usually would go to him when she couldn't go to Peter. He has known about, as he puts it, " the leaving situation" since the first time they met because he was there when Director Fury was speaking with her aunt and uncle. " Yeah. Auntie Anela and Uncle Kam called this morning to talk about flight arrangements."

" Hold up! Leaving? Aunt and Uncle? Flight arrangements? Obviously I don't know you as well as I thought I did Ava. What is going on? Why are you leaving? Where are you going? Whe-"

Ava held up a hand and cut her her off, " Okay MJ, cool it with all the questions. I know you are a reporter and all but now is not the time. Here I'll sum it up for you: My aunt and uncle are my guardians and they agreed to letting me come to Midtown as long as I came back to Hawaii after graduation...which is in a couple of weeks." They walked through the door and sat in there usual seats next to each other. MJ turned around to face Ava and said, " Well no wonder Pete was so down when he left you. Ava what are you two going to do? I mean no offense, but long distance relationships are hard not to mention the fact that you'll be like 5,000 miles away from each other."

Ava bit her lower lip and muttered something unintelligible, which MJ and Sam asked, " What?" Ava sighed and said, " Actually its 4,858 miles. Shut it buckethead."

Sam just sat there wide eyed with his hand over his mouth trying not to laugh, " What'd I do?! You're the one that knows exactly how many miles theres gonna be between you and Peter. How sweet!"

"Sam, don't be like that! And don't act like you don't know how far our houses are from each other." MJ said with a knowing smirk. Sam's mouth fell into a perfect 'O'. " MJ! That was suppose to stay between us!"

"Mr. Alexander! Do you have something you would like to share with the class?" Mr. Wren, the harsh old history teacher, said giving Sam, MJ, and Ava a hard glare. Sam sank down in his desk, blushing while the girls turned toward the board. " No sir. "

"Now as I was saying your last assignment, before you turn your book in and those of you who have to take it get ready for the final exam, is going to be a short and easy 5 page essay on how the Age of Exploration helped fuel the latter stages of the Renaissance..." Ava jotted the assignment down and zoned out thinking about her, as Sam called it, "leaving situation" and MJ's question. What _were_ they going to do about it?

Ava had thought of every possibilty there was for her and Peter until finally the lunch bell rang interrupting Mrs. Rick on her long daily lecture of "sass-mouthing the teachers" courtesy of Harry Osborn, Sam, and Luke Cage. She made her way up to the roof, discretely passing some of the teachers who lingered in their rooms, since students weren't suppose to go up to the roof. Ava and Peter had made that their place to go when they wanted to eat or spend some... quality**(wink wink)** alone time together since no one goes up there. She opened the door and found Peter sitting on the edge of the buildng looking out into the distance, again like he was in a trance. If he knew she was there, he didn't show it even when she straddled the edge, body facing Peter, looking in the same direction he was as if she it would tell her what he was thinking. He finally turned to face her and seeing in her peripheral vision that he had, she looked at him too. He wore a stoic expression, but she could see the saddness and hurt in his eyes. His hair was touseled from running his hands through it and his shoulders sagged as though in defeat. She had only seen him like this a couple of times and most of them were family related or when they fought about being reckless in battle. His voice was hoarse as if he hadn't used it in years or he had screamed for years nonstop. " Ho-...Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I didn't know how. I was going to so many times Pete, but it always came out as something else." He nods to show that he understands because he does, thats how it was for him before they started dating and he wanted to tell her how he felt but had trouble getting it out. " So when exactly are you leaving?"

Ava sighs and glances across the street where a woman is pushing a stroller window shopping before she looks back at Peter and says, " The flight is scheduled to leave at 2 o'clock**(AN-PM) **the day after graduation." Peter looks down and grabs her hands. " Could we convince them to let you stay?"

" I've tried. They said they weren't going to let me stay here surrounded by haoles**(AN- basically white people)** any longer. Their natives and they've never been particularly fond of mainlanders because some 'destroys their beloved island'. They think I'll be tainted if I stay longer which is incredibly stupid considering I've lived here for 3 years. I was surprised they even let me come to begin with."

" So I couldn't even try to convince them with my quips and awesome persuasion skills?" She smiles at him until his words register. " No!" She shouts and then in a much lower tone says," Um I mean...Well they um.. kinda don't know I'm dating anyone, much less dating you."

His eyebrows shoot up near his hairline and his jaw drops. "Come again." Ava just sits there looking at the intertwined hands. " Your kidding, right?!"

Ava looks back up at him with an apologetic expression on her face and say, " I wish I was, but Peter they would immediately hate you just because of where your from!"

He stands and starts pacing again with one hand running through his hair and the other pinching the bridge of his nose. He stops and looks at her; he is trying to be understanding because he knows this is just as hard for her as it is for him, probably even harder since shes the one having to tell everything, but dammit he doesn't care that they'll hate him. He isn't wanting their love, he just wants Ava's love. So he voices his opinions and thoughts adding lowly, " You don't have to go."

Ava walked over and wrapped her arms around him." I do, Peter. As much as I hate it, I do. I'm not 18 yet so I can't legally do what I want when I want without their okay. And they're not okay with me staying after graduating."

He wrapped his arms around her too and whispered, " I just don't want to lose you."

She closes her eyes as tears slide down her cheeks wetting his shirt where her head is resting." I don't wanna lose you either."

He pulls back a little with a determined look set on his face and wipes away her tears with his thumb. " Then we won't. We'll make it work. We'll call each other, facetime, skype, _some_thing everyday... and during college breaks we'll try to visit as much as possible. Okay?"

Ava nods and Peter grins and shouts, " Yes! This isn't the end for Peter and Ava my friends!" They laugh and lean in and kiss, smiling like they were on cloud 9. For now they were going to be okay. They were going to be happy. Little did they know this was just the beginning of their journey to get to their happily ever after.


	3. Chapter 3: Detective Williams

**Hey again! I know it's been awhile but my laptop crashed and being 16 and no job I had to either wait for Christmas or use my allowance... So I just waited for Christmas. Anyway I'm gonna give you guys a heads up and say that I have mixed in some parts of my other favorite show (which I want to see if anyone can guess what it is and it really shouldn't be that hard) which is why I said in the first chapter that this was gonna be really AU. I didn't necessarily want to make it a crossover but I did want to mix it up so without further ado, here is another chapter to Runaway Lovers! Thanks to those who took the time to read and review please keep them coming!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything!**

**Chapter 3: Detective Williams Intro**

_Dreams or rather memories keep me up at night_.

_Peter watched her as she gave each one of their friends, no their family, hugs. He watched her whisper goodbyes and wipe at Mary Jane's teary eyes. He watched her and his aunt speak. He watched her as she finally, finally turned to him. He open his arms and pulled her close. He pulled back and brushed his lips against her forehead. He listened as she spoke lowly, and with each word he felt his heart break even more. He watched as she looked into his eyes and told him she didn't love him, that she was sorry for letting it go so far. He watched as she slid out of his arms and grabbed her bag. He wanted to stop her but he couldn't move. He felt frozen to the spot. He watched as the love of his life walked away, and before she disappeared behind the door he felt his feet drag him away despite his mind and heart screaming for him to stop her. _

_What he didn't see was her own tears threatening to spill when she whispered goodbye to each one. What he didn't hear was her telling his aunt to take care of him. What he didn't hear was his aunt telling her to take care of herself. What he didn't see was her gathering strength to lie to him even as they were holding each other tight. What he didn't catch was the shakiness in her voice. What he didn't see was her limbs trembling with the horrific effort it took to force herself to reject him. What he didn't know was that she wanted nothing more than to wrap herself around him and never leave. What he didn't see was her turn back with tears in her eyes. What he didn't see was her watching the love of her life walk away. What he didn't know was her mind was telling her to let him go and her heart was screaming for her to stop him._

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><p><em>Five years later...<em>

Peter stepped off the plane onto the beautiful island for the first time in four years, and after placing his hat on his head and with his duffle bag in hand, he walked to the only woman waiting for specifically for him, her men standing and watching intently for any sign of danger from the black SUV.

He stopped in front of her, acutely standing in attention and saluting her. She nodded her acknowledgement and he dropped his hand back to his side before she spoke in a political, yet solemn tone, "Commander, it's truly a pleasure to finally meet you. I wish it wasn't particularly under these circumstances but nevertheless. I am extremely sorry for your loss and I hope you know that we, I greatly appreciate your willingness to come out here and take care of the arrangements. I understand that the funeral will be under the table and a traditional Hawaiian Sea Burial, correct?"

Peter's jaw muscles clenched and relaxed before he spoke with his most professional tone, "Yes ma'am, Harry asked me to do so himself."

"Well, we are honored. Harry was a great asset to Hawaii in many ways and he was a dear friend of mine as well. It's a shame he was taken so young. May I ask why he requested it to be done here?"

Peter swallowed the guilt that rose at the mention of his best friend before speaking, "He used to always say this was his favorite vacation spot or rather his paradise away from home... Did they find anything at the crime scene?"

The older woman shifted her weight to her other foot and looked out at the ocean. "We do have such a beautiful island, don't you think? It's hard to believe there is such violence at a place that looks this magnificent and peaceful."

Peter tightened his grip on his duffle bag and refrained from shouting at the woman. Instead his voice was clipped and measured as if he was speaking to a misbehaved child, "Governor Bailey, I appreciate everything you have done to help me get out here, but I would like for you to cut the crap and answer my question."

Governor Bailey stood baffled for a moment. She had heard of his directness and candidness, but hadn't exactly been ready for it. She had been keeping tabs on the commander ever since she heard one of very high up military friends tell stories about his brave actions. Mainly, how he done everything in his power to get the right thing done, no matter the consequences and she had been wanting to contact him to offer him a job running a task force. Even though she knew Mr. Harry Osborn, in fact, was very good friends with him and done a fair amount of business with the man, but she was glad she finally got the commander on the islands of Hawaii.

"Actually, there is another reason I am here," At his confused expression she explained. "I wanted to offer you a job to run a task force here in Hawaii. You would have full immunity and means. You can choose who is on the team and you can work on Harry's case as well. I have already spoken to the men at HPD and told them to be ready to hand everything over to you, that is if you accept. I need a good officer to run my task force and from what I hear you fit the bill, Commander. So are you willing to accept?"

"You don't even know me." Peter said skeptically.

"I know your resume. Annapolis. Four years, Naval Intelligence and with the SEALS. Your superiors say that you are the best that they have ever seen. I can help you find the son of a bitch that killed Harry. With full immunity and task force will have full blanket authority to go after guys like Ramen and get them the hell off my island. Your rules, my backing, no red tape. And I promise you, Commander, what you see with me is what you get."

Sighing Peter shook his head. "Here's what I see. An election year coming up, and a politician who needs the PR, who's willing to do whatever it takes including bringing me down here to fulfill my dead best friend's last dying wish. Is that about right, Governor? None of those things make me feel less responsible. Harry died because of my affiliation with Ramen and his brother."

"I knew Harry too, Commander. This is personal for me, too." She placed a hand on Peter's shoulder.

"Pass." He told her, his face scrunching up in shame.

"All right. Here's my private number. Please think it over." She offered him a business card with numbers written in pen on the back.

"Thanks." He took the card and once again saluted her before walking past her and to a rental car.

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><p>Peter bound through the double doors on the Honolulu Police Department and scanned the room for the chief of police's office. Ignoring the lady in uniform asking him to sign in, Peter marched to the office and barged in without knocking. He watched unaffected as the old man jumped to his feet and grabbed at his gun before realizing he wasn't a threat. "I'd like to know what you have on Harry Osborn's case."<p>

The older man looked at Peter like he had grown two heads and said, "Have you lost your damn mind, boy?"

Peter glared at the man for a moment before stepping forward and extending his hand. "Lieutenant Commander Peter Parker." As if that summed everything up, the man took Peter's hand and shook it. "Chief Duke Kalakua. Please have a seat Commander." Duke gestured to the leather seat in front of his desk before taking his own seat.

Taking the seat, Peter rubbed his hands together and leaned forward. "So Chief, what have your men got so far on Harry's case."

Duke shuffled through some files and handed him one set before sitting back again. "That's all we have as of right now. I have a detective from the mainland on the murder investigation as we speak. He's quite the character but he's one of the best damn detectives this precinct has seen in awhile."

Scanning through the files, Peter glanced up at Duke. "A mainlander? Thought you natives weren't fans of us haoles?"

Duke chuckled and shook his head. "Yes, we do have a few natives on the island that don't particularly like mainlanders but personally I don't have a problem with them."

Peter silently scoffed, "So he put in a request for a warrant write up for surveillance wire on a guy named Fred Mallack?"

Duke nodded and gestured to the file in Peter's hand. "Yeah, he's the new suspect in the case."

Closing the file, Peter nodded and stood. "Thank you for this, sir."

Duke nodded and held out another piece of paper with pen scribbles on it. "Here's a list of our best officers I thought you would be interested in for the task force. Kai Dae Kelly was one our finest but he was let go a few years back for being accused of some things but I think he'd be your best fit. If you're interested he's working at Kimo Bean Coffee Co. at Waikiki Beach."

Peter shook his head. "Thank you sir but I won't need it." With that Peter turned and went back to his car. Finding the address of Harry's beach house in the file, he drove to the location.

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><p>Jumping up and drawing his gun upon hearing footsteps behind him, Peter shouted at the short man with slicked back hair to drop his weapon. Shaking his head, the short man kept his gun aimed at Peter. "Detective Matthew Williams! HPD! Put your weapon down right now!"<p>

"Lieutenant Commander Peter Parker! SEALs! This is my friend's house. Show me your I.D." Peter argued.

"You show me your I.D.! Right now! I'm not putting my gun down." The detective said, slightly waving the gun as he spoke.

"Neither am I. Use your free hand, take out your I.D."

"Please, after you." The blonde deadpanned, making a gesture with the flick of his other hand.

After a brief stare down, Peter stubbornly shook his head, refusing to back down first. "At the same time?"

"At the same time? Yeah okay, at the same time."

"On the count of three?" The blonde nodded his head and Peter began to count. "One... two... three."

They both slowly placed their weapons back in their respective holsters and the shorter man immediately took a step forward, talking with his hands. "Listen, uh, I'm really sorry about your friend, but you can't be here right now. This is an active crime scene. I can't share any information with you."

"Ramen wasn't here alone when Harry was murdered. Someone was sitting at the desk in the study there was a space clear for a 13-inch laptop and Harry hated laptops, he done things on his phone and IPad." Peter said completely disregarding the blonde's statement.

"I'm gonna ask you again- you got to leave." Matthew stated again.

"You got it." Peter grabbed the box he was looking through before and started for the door.

"And you can leave the box- that is evidence. You know that. It'll be take back with me to HPD."

"I came with this."

"No, you didn't come with it. I see the dust void it left right here on the counter- what's in the box?" The detective took a step toward Peter.

"How long you been with the Honolulu PD?" Peter inquired, taking a step back.

"None of your business. What are you, Barbara Walters? "

"No, it is my business if you're investigating my best friend's death."

"I am, and I'd like to get back to that, so the sooner you leave, the sooner I can."

"Anything you say." Peter started for the door again, with the box in tow.

"Whoa hey! Leave the box or get arrested, all right? You gonna call for backup? Listen this is my crime scene alright? I'm gonna have to take the box, man." The short man stepped in Peter's path.

Peter scoffed and pulled out his phone. "Your crime scene huh? I think you're mistakened short stuff."

The detective's mouth dropped into a perfect 'O' shape while Peter dialed a number and placed the phone to his ear. "What are you doing?" Matthew said, confused.

"Uh, yeah, Governor Bailey, please? Tell her it's Peter Parker."

"Oh, please." Matthew made a disbelieving face at Peter and Peter placed the phone on speaker.

"Commander, Governor Bailey here." Peter took it off speaker and placed his phone to his ear again while the shorter man threw his hands up and mumbled a bunch of curse words under his breath.

"Governor, I'll think I'll take you up on your earlier offer... Yes that's the one ma'am...Well, let's just say I found something that changed my mind... No, no, no, immediately. I'll transfer to the reserves, and I'll run your task force... Wha What, right now?" Peter glanced at the detective who was watching with exasperated interest. Moving a couple steps away, Peter held up his right hand as he was sworn in.

"I, Peter Parker, do solemnly declare upon my honor and conscience, that I will act at all times to the best of my ability and knowledge in a manner befitting an officer of the law... Thank you, Governor."

After Peter put away his phone, he turned back to face the blonde detective with a smug grin. "Well detective you may leave now because this is now my crime scene. Oh and you can leave any other files you have with me before you leave."

Detective Williams stood stock still for only a few seconds before he seemed to explode in a mass of flying hands and a nonstop spew of words. A wicked grins spread across Peter's face as a musing idea crossed his mind, causing Matthew to stop and watch him carefully.

"Welcome to Hawaii's new task force, Detective Williams." Peter extended his hand and watches as the blonde looked from him to the hand in front of him. Turning his back to the taller man, Matthew shook his head, saying, "I don't believe this."

Peter grabbed the box and followed him. "I swung by your precinct, spoke to your captain. He said you requested a wire be put on someone named Fred Mallack. Tell me about it."

**R & R Please!**


	4. Chapter 4: Kai Dae Kelly and Cuz

Aloha! CrazyFunnyGirl back with a new (short) chapter for Runaway Lovers! We're just gonna pick up where we left off for now. As always thanks for the reviews and please keep them coming!

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Chapter 4: Kai Dae Kelly and the Cuz

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><p>"Whoa, this is your ride?" Peter stopped and stared at the brand new silver Dodge Challenger grinning as Matthew nodded his head. Peter held out his hand, expectantly. "Keys. I am so driving."<p>

Matthew stared at Peter before shoving his hand out of his way. "Are you kidding me? I'm not going anywhere with you, much less let you drive my car! You're insane! No you're a batshit crazy neanderthal!"

"Now that's no way to talk to your new partner. The governor said I could choose who is on my team and well I chose you... So again welcome to the team, Matt. Can I call you Matt? I'm gonna call you Matt." Peter said matter-of-factly and started toward the car, pausing to wait on the irritated shorter man.

Matt pushed past him, mumbling under his breath, before turning around. "No. No, you can't call me Matt. Only my friends call me Matt and you, mister, are not my friend. It's my car. I'm driving."

Rolling his eyes, Peter walked to the passenger side and slid in. Once on the road, Peter glanced at the grumpy looking detective. "I was just messing with you, man. No need to pout."

Matt's eyes narrowed before his hand that wasn't on the wheel swung out, nearly hitting Peter in the face process. "Oh so now I'm pouting? What's next? You know you have a lot of nerve! I'm trying to keep my mouth shut so that I don't get in some kind of trouble with the governor, for Christ's sake. Oh and welcome to the team? Really? You call two people a team? Or do we have more on this so called team? And why team? It's a task force. It should have a name!"

Peter pinched the bridge of his nose as Matt continued with another line of questions. "Would you shut up!? I have a plan, okay? Duke gave me some names to look into. We need to stop at the Kimo Bean Coffee Co. near Waikiki Beach. There's a guy there that use to work with an old friend of mine. Kai Dae Kelly. Duke said that he was blamed for a whole bunch of mishaps at HPD but said he was a great cop. We're gonna check him out and see if he wants a chance to redeem himself."

Matt, looking completely professional now, nodded his head and turned off on an exit, heading toward Waikiki. He glanced at Peter. "You must be a big believer in second chances, huh?"

Peter shrugged and looked out the window causing Matt to glare at the back of his head. He deadpanned, "Seriously? Fine, whatever. How much do you know about this guy?"

Peter finally looked back at Matt and shrugged again. "Just that he's a native and was a wrong place at the wrong time. When he lost his badge, he's name and reputation were destroyed and now he's selling coffee for a living. Not much, but I trust my source. If he says Kai is innocent and gave me substantial evidence that he was so, then he is... So what about this Mallack guy?"

"He's a suspected arms dealer. Two years Maui Correctional for weapons possession. He's currently a person of interest in an unrelated weapon was never found."

"So, what's he got to do with Harry's case?" Peter asked, glancing at Matthew confusedly.

"When I ran a ballistics comparison to the bullet that killed your dad, I got a hit to the Mallack investigation. See, I think the first thing that Ramen did when he got on the island was hook up with Mallack and get a gun."

"And maybe Mallack still knows where he is, so let's go talk to him after talking to Kai."

Nodding, Matt pulled into the parking lot and found a spot to park. Looking at Peter before he got out, he said, "I may have misjudged you. You're obviously loyal to your friends and believe in the best of people so for now you're no longer a batshit insane person... just a crazy neanderthal."

Chuckling, Peter got out and started for the coffee shop. When they found Kai, they explained their reason for being there and asked him if he wanted to join their new task force. Kai stared at them in shock and shook his head. "Okay, you must have the wrong guy."

Peter shared a look with Matt before asking, "You are Kai Dae Kelly, right?"

The older man in the coffee shop uniform nodded. "Yes, but why would the governor want an old cop who lost his badge on her task force?"

"Well actually I do. She told me I would be the one running it so therefore I get to choose who is on it. So far, I've got Matthew and you if you accept. I was thinking about one more, one who would be great at undercover work or something." Peter told them, looking from Kai to Matt and back again.

Kai tilted his head in contemplation, and finally said, "Alright, why not? Oh, and I might know someone who would be just what you're looking for."

Eyebrows raised in interest, Peter nodded. "Okay I'm listening."

Kai gestured for the two to follow him outside. Matthew nudged Peter who looked down at him. He raised his shoulders in a small shrug. "What is it?"

Matthew shook his head and pushed Peter toward the door after the other man. "Seriously? You're pushing me? I can walk on my own, midget." Peter shrugged off Matt's hands and put his mirrored aviators on, ignoring the fuming blonde detective.

Kai led the two arguing men to the beach where he knew his cousin was surfing at. Nudging both men in their shoulders to get their attention, he pointed a finger at each one. "Listen, my cousin is just right for this. She's fresh out of the academy and was top of her class. She's like my baby sister though so choose your next words and actions carefully both of you."

Looking out at the ocean, Peter pushed his shades up to sit more comfortably on his nose. Kai made a pointing gesture toward a tan woman who just caught a wave. "That's her right there."

Peter froze dead in his tracks, his arms going tense and suddenly held stiff at his sides, fists clenched at the familiar looking woman that Kai was calling his cousin. His heart rate suddenly accelerated and all he could hear was blood rushing in his ears.

All three men winced when someone crashed into her causing them to both fall into the water. Kai looked back at the other two and grinned. "Watch this, brahs."

They watched as the woman came out of the water marching up to the man who ran into her and tapped his shoulder. When the man turned around he was greeted with a fist to the nose, and he fell to the ground. The men winced again as the woman yelled at the man holding his bloodied and possibly broke nose. "Ho, brah! Watch where the hell you're going out there, haole!"

She snatched her board up and started walking away but stopped when she noticed her cousin. "Cuz! You so had him, Water Woman!"

She stuck her board in the sand and wrapped her arms around her cousin, still not noticing the other two men standing behind him. Chuckling, she said, "Such a waste! That was the first good pipe of season! Damned tourists."

Matt nudged Peter with his arm and wiggled his eyebrows enthusiastically. Peter's nose scrunched up in disgust and something he didn't want to call jealousy at Matt's obvious interest and his nails dug into the palm of his hands.

Kai laughed and shrugged his shoulder good-naturedly. "Eh, what you gonna do about 'em?" He paused, taking a step back and gesturing toward the stiff commander and delighted detective. The woman halted a silent gasp falling from her lips, her features freezing in shock, then her dimpled grin disappeared as her brows furrowed. "This is Detective Matthew Williams and Co-"

"Peter? Oh my god! Is that you?" The woman cuts her cousin off. Snapping his attention back to the woman that he fought hard to forget about, Peter met her shocked gaze and felt his stomach do a few somersaults. Rubbing the back of his neck, he nodded and gave a small wave. "Hey, Ava, long time no see, huh?"


	5. Chapter 5: Back in the game?

_**Sorry soooo sorry for the long absence again! I just got preoccupied(namely with school and then getting sick yippy -_-) but I'm back with another chapter for RL! Thanks for the reviews, favs, and followers really appreciate it! Keep them coming!**_  
><em><strong>Disclaimer: I don't own anything.<strong>_

**Chapter 5: In or Out**

Part of her nearly ran and threw herself at him like some cheesy chick flick she watch the other day, but remembering a second soon enough, she stopped herself and settled for nodding her head. "Yeah, yeah it's been awhile."

Ava wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly becoming acutely aware that she's standing on the beach soaking wet in just a bikini in front her ex-boyfriend. The major ex-boyfriend; the one she expected to live happily ever after with just a few years ago and the one she still dreamed about occasionally. She shakes her head because despite her heart doing double time she can't stop the huge smile that spreads across her face.

Peter's breath caught at the sight of that dimpled smile and pearly whites and his eyes swiftly traced the muscles in her arms and legs. Of course, he would end up running into her while she was barely clothed. He barely allowed himself to think of her once he decided to come to Hawaii, but he surely didn't think she'd have a bright blue string bikini on. How could he be professional with his ex when she was half-naked in front of him? The distracting expanse of her toned, tan stomach and the droplets of water gliding down her bare sternum were so close to him that it was only natural for him to want to direct his gaze downward.

In other circumstances, he might have allowed himself to, but because he still has too much respect for the woman and for the sake of the future of his potential investigations, he restrained. He made sure not to move his head a millimeter, keeping his gaze on Ava's smiling face as the short silence started to turn into an awkward one, and once again, Peter wished she had more clothes on.

Kai Dae looks at them both slowly, noticing the awkward tension immediately. He wondered aloud, "You guys know each other?"

They each give a hesitant nod and Matt claps his hand over Peter's shoulder and extends his hand to Ava. "Detective Matthew Williams at your service, but you can call me Matt."

She shakes his hands... and he shakes hers some more, lingering far longer than any customary handshake. Ava chuckled awkwardly, the dimple in her right cheek deepening. Kai eventually steps up and says sharply, "Ho, that's good, haole."

"Oh, yeah. Sure." Matt releases her hand and steps back, a light shade coloring his cheeks, until Kai directs his attention back to Peter and Ava. "So how do you two know each other exactly?"

Peter visibly stiffens and Ava fidgets with her hands before she mumbles, "Oh we, uh, dated a long time ago."

Matthew and Kai straighten at this news and glance between the two in silence. Growing annoyed at the two detectives' "laser focus" pointed at him and Ava, Peter finally makes a small gesture to the man still holding his jaw somewhere behind Ava and smirked. "Still got a mean right hook, I see."

She looks over her shoulder, turning back with an amused grin and chuckles. "Nah brah, that was just a love tap."

Matt spots a chance to tease Peter and takes it, squeezing his shoulder and leaning forward with a wide grin. "I bet you know all about those don't you, Parker"

He realizes his mistake too late because all three are glaring at him and Peter shrugs off his hand roughly. After another awkward silence, Matt finds his voice again and turns to Peter. "You sure she'll be ready for this?"

He turned to Kai and back to Peter again, moving his arms wildly in front of him. The undercover jobs were going to be tough and almost impossible for a rookie. "You said she's a rookie. I mean, no offense, but sounds to me like she's got no street experience."

Kai and Ava opened their mouths to defend her, but neither needed to. Peter had already shook his head. "She's good. We had enough street experience in Midtown to last us a lifetime. I think she'd be perfect for the undercover ops and more, that is if she wants to join the team."

Ava stares in wonder at Peter's trust in her skills after so many years and Matt nods. "Okay... Right, so what do you say, rookie. Wanna try us out?"

Peter watches as a fire instantly fueled behind Ava's eyes and he smiled at her evident passion for field work opportunities. The woman in question glances at Peter, who nods, and she nods her head. "Sounds great, brah."

* * *

><p>After a few hours of calls and the governor stepping in a few times, the team had cleared a place at the palace for their HQ, filled with four glass offices, a break room, loads of new tech equipment, guns, ammo, and Ava's favorite, the smart table. The four met in the center at the smart table for a quick briefing. Peter cleared his throat, crossing his arms, and recapped a little of what happened with Harry. "My team were hunting for the Ramen brothers for awhile and we got a hit on Anton's location so we went to retrieve him..." <p>

* * *

><p><em> Peter popped his neck and fixed his gun strap while keeping an eye on Anton Ramen, a terrorist they picked up a few seconds ago.<em>

_ "Fire at one, this is Castle requesting an update. Over." The radio in front buzzed with static as the driver of the convoy reached for it to reply to the tower.__ "Commander Parker has the prisoner secure. Over."_

_ Anton stared directly at Peter and smirked, "You know what's funny. You don't look like such a big fuss."_

_ His face impassive, Peter leaned forward a bit. "You're gonna tell us everything."_

_ "I guess looks can be deceiving, right?" Anton sneered, disregarding Peter's comment._

_ "Every terrorist cell you and Victor helped arm, every supplier you've worked with, all your trafficking associates, everyone you've sold weapons to... you're gonna give up."_

_ "You've been chasing my brother and me around the world for three years, like a little doggy looking for a bone. You don't think we'd do our homework on you? You should get that. You don't speak to your friends nearly enough."_

_ Peter pauses in confusion until he hears a SAT phone ring and LTJG Hanson passes it to him. Glancing at Anton, Peter slowly places it to his ear. "Yeah?"_

_ There's a brief pause until a male voice fills his ear. "Hey, Bosch. You all right? Who are these people, Peter?"_

_ Peter opens his mouth to ask who it was, but stopped as a bunch of rustling and static passed through the phone and another gruffer tone spoke to him. "You've got a tough old friend here. Peter, we both have something to lose here, so listen to me very carefully... I'm offering you a trade. You're friend Harry here for my brother. All things considered, I'd say it's more than generous don't you think?"_

_ Peter gripped the phone a little tighter and gritted out, "You're smart enough to know that's never gonna happen, Victor."_

_ "I appreciate the compliment, but I think you need to ask yourself if you're smart enough to take this offer."_

_ "Come on, Victor. You know how this works. We don't negotiate with terrorists." Peter scribbled a note to LTJG Hanson to try to trace the call._

_ "Well Commander, I think you'll make an exception." __The driver grabbed the radio to contact the tower after LTJG Hanson showed him the note. "Ghost to Castle. Need a SAT signal triangulated for Commander Parker, copy."_

_ "Castle to Ghost, SAT signal triag, copy."_

_ Peter rubbed his jaw and shook his head. "I'm not gonna negotiate like this."_

_ Victor's sinister laugh caused Peter's blood to boil. "Oh, so now we're negotiating?"_

_ "If you kill him, you get nothing." Peter growled into the speaker._

_ There was another brief pause before Harry's voice filled the phone. "Hey, listen to me, bosch."_

_ Peter interrupted him. "Harry, I'm gonna get you out of there, all right? Don't you worry about it."_

_ "I'm sorry, bosch, that I cussed you out before. I understand now. I'm sorry I lied to you too."_

_ "What? Lied to me about what, Harry? What are you talking about?"_

_ "I love you, bosch. I want it done in Hawaii, a sea burial please. Whatever these people want, Pete, do not give it to them. Don't you give it to them!"_

_ "Har? Harry?!" __There was a loud thud and Victor yelled into the phone, "No more games! I'm taking my brother now!"_

_ Peter growled and slammed his hand into the side of the convoy. "I swear to God, I will hunt you down and I will kill you... Hello?" __Peter looked down at the phone before Sergeant Keith pointed in front of the convey at two armed trucks. "Hey! Watch out!" __The driver swerved the convoy to the right to avoid a missile and skidded to a stop. He reached for the radio and yelled into the receiver. "This is ghost to castle! Convoy under attack! Taking rocket and small arms fire!"_

_ "He was cut off from a bullet entering his skull and Peter immediately was in action. "Everybody, move it! Move! Sarge! Sir, Come on!" __The small transport team fled out the convoy seeking cover and firing at their combatants. __"Come on! Go! Come on! Get down! Man down! Man down!"_

_ "Watch your cover! Move! Quick! Quick! Quick! Quick! Watch it. __Men, move out! Come here."_

_ "Come on. __Come on!" __In the chaos Anton had slipped out of his restraints and stolen a gun, but instead of pointing it at any of the American soldiers the Russian placed the barrel at his temple. And that's how Peter found him. __"No! No! No! Don't do it! Put it down! Hey! Come on, Anton. Come on. Put it down, Anton."_

_ Peter's attempts fell on deaf ears because Anton pulled the trigger and fell to the ground lifeless. Peter shook his head. "No! No! No!"_

_ "What happened?!" Victor's yelling was barely audible from the SAT phone in Peter's pocket and he scrambled to answer him. "Victor, listen."_

_ "Put Anton on the phone." He grunted and waited a few minutes as Peter just looked away from the body of the dead Ramen brother. "My brother's dead, isn't he?_

_ "Victor, listen."_

_ "Isn't he?! Then so is your friend."_

_ Suddenly time stilled as the sound of a gun going off filled Peter's ears followed by static. "No!"_

* * *

><p>"… So yeah... And Matthew ran ballistics on the bullet that was pulled from Harry and it matched to the Fred Mallack investigation. We headed out there after talking to you guys on the beach. Turns out Mallack has been a very busy man." Peter finishes, jaw clenched and tensed shoulders.<p>

"Matthew pulls up two pictures on the main screen. "This girl here, Mei G...Genga?"

Peter shakes his head and chuckles, "Mei Genji."

"Right, sorry Rosetta Stone. Anyways, she was smuggled in on a cargo ship about four days ago, got traded to Mallack, and then was locked in his basement. We didn't exactly plan to pick up another case going after this guy but someone didn't take my advice and wait for backup. So now we have a dead Mallack and a sex trafficking case to deal with."

Peter grimaced and crossed his arms before retaliating. "You were my backup."

Matthew paused, staring at Peter with narrowed eyes, and sarcastically grunted, "You know you should be saying 'thank you, Matt, for saving my life that was very kind of you!'"

"Thank you? You shot my only lead!" Peter rebuked, leaning forward slightly. Ava suppressed a chuckle at how ridiculous they were being and apparently Kai was thinking the same because he stepped in between the fully ranting Matthew and white-knuckled Peter. "Children! Do you think we could maybe focus on the cases for a second instead of your ongoing argument."

Ava placed a hand over her mouth to hide the grin, but cleared her throat, straightening up, when Peter's intense blue gaze fell on her. They still haven't exactly talked that much other than professionally. She averted her gaze back to the screens which still held two pictures, one of Mei Genji and the other of a male and female. She brought their attention back to the task at hand and asked, "Who is in the other picture?"

Back in Commander mode, Peter pulled up more information about the two in the other picture. "The man is Greg Parsley and the woman is Natalia Reeves. Parsley and Reeves are the supposed head of the main network out here. Now, here's what I'm thinking Victor Ramen is a high-profile criminal. CIA, FBI, Interpol, the guy is on everyone's radar which means he didn't just go and get his passport stamped and say 'aloha Hawaii!' It means he was back-channeled in."

Ava nodded and looked back. "So you think that Parsley and Reeves may have something to do with smuggling him in like they did with Genji?"

Peter and Matthew both nodded, and Kai, brow furrowing, asked, "So what's our next move? Put surveillance on Parsley and Reeves?"

Rubbing his hands together and smirking, Matthew glanced at Ava before staring at his new partner with mirth, innocently inquiring, "Yeah Peter, what's our next move?"

Everyone then turned to their commander who glared at Matthew before shifting his feet and taking a deep breath. "Gonna need to read your briefing files really good Ava." He paused watching her look back at him in confusion before continuing. "You're going undercover earlier than we originally thought."

_**Uh-oh! Undercover work already! Yikes! Haha, please tell me what you guys think! R&R!**_


	6. Chapter 6: Intel can get you somewhere

** Hey guys! I'm back! Thanks for the reviews! I really appreciate them. I know this story is really slow going but I'm trying to get everything straighten out before anything major happens. I want you guys to know some of the things that's happened in the past five years up until now, so just bare with me. I promise we'll get there soon! Oh and sports21 congrats for being the first at actually mentioning the other show and to answer your question no it's not going to be the same as when McGarrett took down Hesse. It might be a tad similar but not the same.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6: Intel Can Get You Somewhere<strong>

Ava sat at her desk in her new office, reviewing her story for the undercover op they are about to extract once everything is ready when she heard a knock. "Hey."

She looked up from the stapled papers in her hands and smiled the tall man in dark cargo pants and navy v-neck, standing in the doorframe with a hand outstretched in a knocking gesture. "Hey, Pete. Howzit?"

Peter drew his mouth into a thin line before exhaling deeply and running his hand through his hair. He was still really bad at this kind of stuff. He needed to make sure she was alright with this before going in, but man it's been awhile since he's had to really worry about someone in the field.

"Just spit it out, brah" Ava grinned earnestly, knowing something was weighing on his mind.

Peter scratched his chin and trained his piercing gaze on her before sighing again. "Look, you sure you're ready for this? Don't hesitate to let us know if you're having second thoughts. I know you're by far not an actual rookie at kicking ass, but it's not just that... you gotta play a role, too."

The muscles in Ava's face hardened. "I'm not scared."

"I know you're not. Just-"

"I can do it, Parker." She interrupted, staring hard.

"Okay." Peter relented and backed off, remembering just how endless her stubbornness is and knowing not to push any further. "Okay. That's good, but keep in mind if you do want to work with us for good you may have a lot of UC work ahead of you."

"Because I'm the girl, huh?" Ava's shoulders relaxed and she smiled to let Peter know she wasn't mad.

Peter chuckled. "Yeah, pretty girls seem to do the trick more often than not."

She smiled shyly and looked towards the ground. Her outfit, a light purple throw-over and her wind dried hair, gave her a sense of sunny innocence that highly belied her true grit and strength.

Peter cleared his throat and downshifted to serious mode again, sensing he may have crossed over into to the awkward stage again. "Hey, I just want you to know that we're going to do everything we can to protect you, okay? We won't let anything happen to you."

"Right. Because I'm the girl?"

"No." Peter stuffed his hands into his pockets of his cargo pants. "Because you're a teammate."

Ava slowly nodded her head, and Peter turned to leave, stopping when Ava's quiet voice reached his ears again. "Hey Pete... I do want to work with the team for good."

Peter glanced over his shoulders, suppressing the smile that threatened to take over his face, and nodded. "Then you will. I'm gonna head over and get you're Uc outfit."

* * *

><p>"Here." Peter strode quickly into the room, tossing a wardrobe bag at Ava before walking over to pick up his gun and strap it on. They had already knew everything about the place that they needed to know and now had an hour to head out. There was just one more thing to run by everyone.<p>

"You're kidding."

"What?" Peter spared her a preoccupied glance before turning back to his work. Ava walked over to him, opened bag in hand and shoved it in Peter's face so he was forced to look at it.

"Really?" She scoffed, the dimple in her right cheek forming as she did so. "This is my outfit?"

"What's wrong with it?" He asked, earnestly confused.

"They're sequined booty shorts, Peter." Ava said the words as if they were poisonous.

"Sorry Ava, but last time I checked, girls didn't wear board shorts and slippers into clubs. You're gonna have to get their attention to get them to let you in."

She chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Right, fair enough," she said before heading swiftly towards the locker room. Peter turned back to the smart table and pulled up the blue prints of the club and warehouse and started making mental maps of the exits of each building.

"Hey we're ready." Matt and Kai walked in after awhile, adjusting their weapons and new badges. "Go ahead."

"Alright, give Ava a sec. She's changing."

"I'm ready." At the sound of her voice, Peter turned and raised his eyebrows slightly. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again.

Luckily Matt spoke for him. "Wow," he chuckled. letting out a low whistle. "Ava... You look amazing."

Ava smirked with pride at herself. She shook her head and joined the men at the table. "Alright, boss, we're good."

There was a brief silence of Peter along with Matt staring at Ava in awe. "Boss?... Peter?"

"Huh? Right, uh," Peter stammered, shaking his head and throwing the relevent images onto the main screen. "Alright so here's what we got. Parsley leaves on of the vans in the back parking lot of the club for transferring girls to and from the warehouse."

As Peter continued on, Matthew Williams' eyes were elsewhere. Kai Dae elbowed him sharply and glared. "Pay attention, brah."

"Right. Of course." Matt switched his gaze from Ava's long legs back to the screen.

"Alright, guys, lets head out." Peter finished up, grabbing the rest of his gear and heading for the door.

* * *

><p>The atmosphere inside the truck was tense. It was completely silent, and the team was working in double time. With intense concentration and swift skill, Kai Dae had finished finalizing camera angles and Matt had finalized the bugs and mikes. Peter had all the monitors plugged in right when he noticed that Ava was in position on Camera 3 at the warehouse.<p>

She's in. Peter stiffened, briefly allowing himself to remember how it use to be, how they'd fight over not being careful enough during a mission and how worry would eat away at them if the other was in danger, namely him.

"Okay kid." Kai muttered into the headset. "Just get him to tell you how the smuggling process goes down."

Peter watched with bated breath, eyes concentrated on the black and white live feed images of Ava, Parsley and Madame Reeves. Parsley started, "I'm afraid the kind of information we're talking about might be out of your reach."

A disgusting leer appeared on his rodent-like face. "Unless, of course, we find some form of payment."

Parsley ran his fingers through Ava's hair, smirking as he looked her up and down. This incited a low sneer from Peter, surprising both Kai Dae and Matt.

"You okay?" Kai gave him a curious look from his seat in front of the monitors.

"Makes me sick," Peter responded simply, under his breath, but he didn't have time to elaborate. The three men bristled. Their simultaneous instincts alerted them that something wasn't right.

"Sand," Parsley was saying, voice hard, as he examined the substance he had just discovered in Ava's hair. He let the small grains fall through his fingers. "Tell me, what kind of person working two jobs has time to go to the beach?"

Onscreen, Ava's mouth twitched a little and she closed it, swallowing ever so slightly. She was nervous. Shit. Every muscle in Peter's body tensed. Normally the determined succeed-or-die-trying commander inside of him would have pressed on with the job without second thought, but today was different.

Maybe because the UC at risk was new. A girl. An old flame. An old love. Ava. Peter found himself thinking contemplating cutting the cord on the operation.

No. He gripped the headset in his left hand, his rational side finally kicking in. No, we can't pull the out yet; give her a shot. Thanks to his SEAL and S.H.I.E.L.D. training, this turmoil ran through Peter's head behind a calm impasse of a face.

Matt, on the other hand, was the type of man who wore his emotions on his sleeve. "Pull the plug, let's get her out of there," Matt muttered, immediately yanking his headset off and rolling over to Peter and Kai.

"Relax." Kai turned to them. "The kid can handle herself."

"Hey, if he smells trap, he'll kill her!" Matt exclaimed, face scrunching up in genuine concern.

"Trust me." Kai's resolute glare indicated that was the end of discussion.

Peter suddenly felt a sharp intake of breath as he watched Ava begin to unzip and shimmy out of her shorts. What is she doing? Parsley's repulsive leer in the background caused Peter's blood to boil.

"Checking her for a wire," Matt muttered unnecessarily. They watched as Ava slowly, slowly pulled her black blouse off. The soft hem skimmed over the tan curves of her thin waist, brushing the sides of her blue bikini clad breast and finally over her head. She let the fabric fall to the ground.

Then she stood there, her tall lithe body unclothed save for her bikini onscreen, her mouth knit shut in determined silence.

Peter ran a hand roughly over his mouth, not sure if he should act the gentleman and avert his gaze, or the consummate commander and treat the situation objectively. He paced once and returned to the screens.

"This guy's a scumbag," he muttered, so low that Kai and Matt couldn't tell if he was actually talking or just growling.

"We'll get her out of there soon," Kai replied, just as quietly.

The time came sooner than expected. Ava gave them the balled-fist signal, and the three men yanked off their headsets. "She needs help"

"I got it," Peter said, jumping towards the driver's seat so quickly that Kai and Matt barely got a glimpse of him. At lightning speed, he threw the gear into drive and gunned the accelerator.

The truck raced towards the side of the warehouse. The wall exploded in a splintering of wood and brick. The truck doors flew open and the three men split up. "Ava!"

The girl was on the floor, crouching over the bodyguard she had just roundhouse kicked into oblivion. Peter exhaled, letting out the breath he wasn't aware he was holding.

Ava looked up at him, her brown hair stuck to her sweaty forehead. The strap of her blouse fell loose as she pinned down the guard, exposing her bare shoulder. Still out of breath, she grinned up at him, "You're early, boss."

Shouldering his gun, Peter gave her a small, genuine smile. "You're okay."

After all the bodyguards we're dealt with and turned over to HPD, the four teammates stared in disgust at the Madame, standing in a corner, as she resolutely ignored them and petted her furry, toyger cat.

"My English not so good," She spat, coldly.

Peter's blood boiled more violently the longer the Madame stood in silence. He was positive her and Parsley smuggled Ramen in and now all he needed to know is if they smuggled him out too. He breathed in and out, once, in attempt to stay calm and contemplate his next move.

Evidently, Ava wasn't as successful. Peter noticed as Ava's face hardened, a silent fire raging beneath her pupils. In one sudden movement, Ava lunged at the Madame and roughly wrestled the cat out of her hands.

"What you doing?" The Madame snapped, panicking. "What you doing!?"

"Sit down," Ava growled at the woman, sounding scarier than Peter had ever heard her sound. "And shut up."

Matt exchanged amused glances with Kai and Peter. Score one, rookie.

Ava looked at them. "Give us a minute."

Peter raised his eyebrows in compliance. "Yeah, sure." He tried not to laugh as he, Kai, and Matt exited the room.

* * *

><p>Back at HQ, the guys waited for Ava to come back with some information, hoping that she got the Madame to speak up. Matt and Kai sat in the break room, eating some take-out, while Peter sat in his office going through all the information he had on Victor Ramen, his known contacts, safe houses, everything that he had knowledge of that could point him in the right direction. The one thing that Peter needed to know and needed to know pronto was if the bastard was even still on the island. If he was then that narrowed down the places he could be and Peter could catch him. He has to catch that man, for Harry. It was his fault that Harry was dead and he had to avenge him.<p>

Peter's phone interrupted his self-blame with a continuous buzz. He checked the caller ID and frowned. Unknown. He slid his finger across the screen and placed it up to his ear. "Parker."

"How're you doing, kid?" A familiar male voice answered through the speaker.

Peter sighed, standing and walking to the window. "...I'll be fine once I catch Victor."

"If you need any help, just say the word."

He sighed again and ran his hand through his hair. "Yeah, there is one thing. Could you get me MJ's number? She was his best friend, too. She has a right to know what happened and why."

There was a brief pause before the other man replied. "Don't worry about it. I'll tell her for you... Peter, it's not your fault. You didn't do this to him."

"Right, I didn't pull the trigger, but I could've stopped it from happening, Coulson. I could have done more to stop Victor. I could've done... something."

"Hey, hey, listen to me. You done everything you could. Keith told me you tried to stop him."

Leaning against the window, Peter shook his head, knowing the other man couldn't see him. "Yeah, I tried, just not hard enough." He paused, briefly, before continuing. "Coulson, you probably already know I've transferred to the reserves to run this task force, but listen, I think I might have a lead on where Victor is. I'm just waiting on Ava to get back-"

"Hang on, Ava Ayala? That Ava?" Phil interrupted him mid-sentence.

"Yes that Ava, but it's not... She's working with the team. I'm not here for that again, okay?"

Phil sighed deeply and replied, "Peter, you shouldn't be around her. Or the others. We talked about this. Why would you even try something like this? Don't you remember what I said about this kind of thing? I told you it's too dangerous to get you past involved with this."

"I swear, Coulson, I didn't mean to. I recruited her cousin, not knowing he was her cousin, and he led us to her. One thing led to another and here we are." Peter quickly explained to his mentor and long-time friend because he did remember all to well Phil advising him to stay away.

"Damn it Parker. You don't understand. It's bigger than you think, kid. Listen, we found out some stuff before you left Midtown. We thought it'd be better not to tell you so that you wouldn't stay and endager those you love."

Furrowing his brows, Peter flexed his hand against the window panel. "What is it, Coulson? What haven't you told me?"

Coulson sighed again before answering. "The Ramen brothers weren't working alone and they weren't just terrorists. They were assassins. Assassins who had been hired to kill your parents and now to find you and bring you in."

"...What? No, my parents died in a plane crash. It was an accident." Peter rebuked.

"Peter, I'm sorry, but the story is a lot more complex than what it seemed to be. Look, I can't talk over the phone about it. I've got a few things out here to finish up and then I'm heading out there. I'll explain everything when I get there. And Parker? Don't do anything stupid."

Suddenly there was silence in Peter's ear again, and he shook his head, clutching the phone tight. No, this wasn't right. Victor and Anton were suppose to be nothing more than regular high-stakes terrorists that the Navy dealt with, not S.H.I.E.L.D. And what's his parents got to do with this? And what about Ava? Why is it still too dangerous?

He knew Coulson had wanted him not to disrupt her life just because he missed her. He remembered at a park table with Phil four years ago, watching her laugh with some other guy a few yards away at another table with hands intertwined and those gorgeous dimples out to play.

He had been so angry and jealous that she had already moved on after just a year apart. He loved her so much and he could barely look at another woman at the time, yet there she had been, already with some other guy and looking pretty happy.

Coulson had advised him to move on with his life, told him to just forget about her and try to live life the way he had planned before things went south.

Phil had been Peter's rock at the time, helped him when everything in Midtown went chaotic and led him to a new path to protect the ones he loved by putting him under Keith's wing in the SEALs. Peter owed Coulson a lot, but for the life of him, he couldn't wrap his head around what Coulson just told him.

"Hey, Boss."

Peter flinched and turned around at the intrusion. Frowning briefly before he schooled his features in a mask of calm, Peter stepped forward. "Yeah sorry, I was uh just thinking over some details of Ramen's file. Did you get anything out of Reeves."

Ava nodded, frowning slightly. Peter looked like he was thinking about a lot more than just the Ramen brother, but she didn't exactly have the right to flat out ask him about it either. "Uh, yeah, I was just gonna get you so you guys could all hear."

Looking over her shoulder to see Matt and Kai standing at the smart table, Peter nodded and followed her.

Ava started off sarcastically with, "Alright, so Madame Reeves was kind enough to inform me that she did happen to see Victor pass through the other day, and that he hasn't been back, but she claimed that she didn't know where he was or why he was back-channeled in."

Peter crossed his arms and nodded, filing away all the information that was given. Matthew clasped his hands together and said, "And I talked to Parsley before HPD booked him. He wasn't very chatty, but I managed to get a couple things out of him. He said that he did help Victor in and that he hasn't been back so that goes along with the Madame's story. He also claims that he spoke to Victor yesterday on a burner. Ramen was setting up a met for payment. Apparently, Victor convinced ole' Casanova that he'd pay after he was smuggled in."

"That's great. So that means he is still on the island. I doubt he was planning on actually paying up though."

Matt smirked. "Yeah, he was gonna pay the guy, just with bullets in the head instead of cash in the hand."

Ava and Kai chuckled, but Peter raised an eyebrow, looking at his partner with a sly smirk. "Funny, did you come up with that one on your own, inch high private eye?"

Matt froze in shock, and Ava bit her lip to keep from laughing. Matthew, finally shaking off the shock, pointed a finger at Peter and yelled, "You did not just make fun of my height! I can't believe you! You're like a freaking juvenile! I mean, who picks on people about their height nowadays!"

"Well, mostly those who are tall enough to see over the counter."

"Oh real mature! You're such a dick."

Not able to contain her laughter any longer, Ava broke out into a fit of giggles, her dimples deepening in both cheeks instantly. Peter paused to watch her for a moment before smirking and looking back at the still ranting Matt. "Okay, okay, I'll stop... Listen it's been a long day. Let's call it and get back on it tomorrow with fresh eyes."

"Alright, sounds like a plan." Each of them split up, going back to their offices for their keys.

When they met back in the hall that led to the door, Kai suggested, "You know what? How bout we head down to Tony's. We could you know hang out and get to know each other a little better. And for a bonus I'll buy the first round."

The team slowed and glanced around at each other, before Peter nodded. "Yeah, sure."

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><p><strong>Please tell me what you think!<strong>


	7. Chapter 7: Drinks and New Beginnings

** I know! I know! My ability to update regularly is basically nonexistent... but hey I got a new chapter for you guys and some more on its way. I kinda just have everything jumbled up and in bits and pieces so once I get those in order and find some wifi I'll have another one for you guys! As always, thanks for the reviews and please oh please keep them coming! Oh and no beta!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. **

**Chapter 7: Drinks **

Driving Matt's Camaro toward the bar Kai and Ava were to meet them at, Peter glanced from the disgruntled looking detective to a picture of a little girl sitting in front of the speedometer.

"Hey, this your kid?" He asked, genuinely interested because he likes most kids and the little girl is pretty adorable in the pink birthday party hat and oversized sunglasses.

Matt turned, his eyes softening, even as he gave a sarcastic reply. "No, she's just some cute kid I have a picture of." He paused and a soft smile spread across his lips. "Yeah she's mine."

"What's her name? Tell me about her."

"Could say please every once in awhile. Her name is Grace Renea Williams. She's fantastic, man. The best little daughter a dad could ask for. She just turned 11 the other day and you know what she asked for? A week with me. " Matt spoke warmly, his pride of being Grace's father obviously overwhelming.

Peter returned his partner's grin. "Really? That's great, man. I gotta meet her. What about her mom? Is she in the picture?"

Matt's face fell instantly. "What exactly does 'in the picture' mean?"

Peter shrugged. "Well no offense but I'm gonna have to go with divorce because I think if she were dead you would have a picture of her here too, unless of course the marriage was a disaster. Or Grace was born out of wedlock but I don't see you as the type of guy to get a girl pregnant and not be married."

"Okay buddy first off saying 'no offense' in no way lessens the offense that will be taken from whatever follows, ever. Secondly, yes Elizabeth and I are divorced. In fact, she's the reason we had to move out here." At Peter's questioning look, Matt continued. "She got remarried and moved out here taking Grace with her; therefore, forcing me to follow to this god forsaken sandbox."

Peter nodded, then looked back to the road. "You don't like Hawaii?"

"Better question would be: who would like Hawaii? I mean nearly every night I sleep on top of my covers. No one here seems to speak normal English, I mean who the hell speaks Hawaiian anyways except for these people."

"Uh I know a little." Peter rolled his eyes when Matt glared at his interruption.

"Excuse me. Except for the people who grew up here and a crazy ass Super SEAL. Anyways, the the food here is too weird... They put egg on a burger and call it a speciality!" Matt continued on with his rant as Peter rubbed his temple with one hand and drove with the other.

"Matt okay, okay. I get it, you don't like it here and you're only here for Grace." Peter finally interrupted him. "Can we just ride in silence for the rest of the time, now?"

Matt huffed and turned to look out of the window. For a brief moment it was in fact silent, until Matt sat up straighter and looked at Peter with a grin. "So you and Ava, huh?"

For a split second, Peter was dumbfounded, but then he scowled and stopped at a red light. "No. Not answering that."

Matt scoffed. "Fine. Fine, I get it you don't wanna talk about it. Awkward ex stuff. Believe me I get it. Alright, how about this? Are you in a current relationship?"

Peter looked at Matt and back at the red light. God, please change to green already. He squeezed the stirring wheel and ran a hand over his face. "No...Yes? I don't know. I guess. "

"How do you not know if you're in a— oh, just the friends with benefits type thing?"

"We eat out when she's docked somewhere I'm at." Peter defended, but really if he thought about it they kind of were.

"So she's in the navy too. I should've known. Okay, so you go on lunch dates and sleep together. It counts I suppose. What's her name?"

"Megan Turner."

"Nice. Are you going to elaborate a little or just leave me with just a name to a faceless woman?"

Peter shrugged and looked out his window. Matt followed his gaze and nearly bounced in his seat in joy. There next to the Camaro was a red corvette filled with four beach girls in nothing but bikinis, revving up the engine and smiling seductively back at Peter and Matt.

Peter looked back at his overexcited partner as Matt pulls his hands up and clasped them together. "Please take a detour. Please."

Peter turned to the still giggling and smiling women, then back to Matt, and smirked. Matt stopped his pleading and glanced between Peter, the road, and the girls. "You wouldn't."

As soon as the light turned green, Peter gunned the car forward and laughed as Matt turned in his seat and reached dramatically back towards the car filled with women.

"No! No! No!" Turning back to the still laughing Peter, Matt thumped him in the arm. "Why would you do that!? That was a man's greatest fantasy! You should be ashamed to call yourself a man for not taking that obvious offer! I can not believe you just did that! You know you probably hurt their feelings! Their probably sitting back there staring at each other and all confused cause they—"

"Matt. The only person whose feelings got hurt is you. So shut up"

When they're finally all sitting at a bar having celebratory drinks for catching Reeves and Parsley, and gaining more information about Victor, Ava allows her gaze to finally wonder. She takes in the changes of the new and apparently improved commander.

He was so different yet still the same Peter she fell for all those years ago. His thick hair had darkened over the years, the chestnut brown becoming more of a dark ebony shade. He had it cut short in a military styled Ivy League cut.

His shoulders and chest were broader, more muscular, causing his gray v-neck to stretch across the wide area. He was tanner than he use to be hinting that he was outside under the sun a lot more now days. She could make out a scar high on his cheek bone, close to his left eye.

She turned her focus on those eyes. Now there's something that hadn't changed a bit. The blue hue of them made her think of her beloved ocean. They were distant though, like he wasn't paying attention to Matt and Kai's silly jokes. She knew that he was thinking about the Ramen brother who killed Harry.

He probably blamed himself somehow, even if he half way across the world and didn't pull the trigger. She wished she could ease his pain of losing his close friend, maybe hold—no that will never happen.

She blinked to regain focus on what she was doing and not travel down an old and broken path, moving her gaze down the length of his muscular arms that were no longer hidden from view like he use to do with those long sleeve button ups when he was suppose to be Puny Parker.

When he reached for his beer she could see the hints of ink under the gray sleeves. She couldn't believe her eyes. Peter Parker had a tattoo. She hid her smirk behind her own beer. Definitely not the geeky nerd that Flash and half of midtown high pegged him to be, nope, this man seemed to be nothing short of one sexy badass. Not that she had ever thought any differently.

Peter could feel her eyes on him and he honestly wanted to ask why she was just staring at him, but Matt and Kai were there and he knew they'd appreciate it if there wasn't anymore awkwardness. Quite frankly, he would be happy to avoid that too.

The two men were asking him questions about their new team, jokingly coming up with mock names for it, so he tried to stay focused on them and not the way she was eyeing him.

Then, his focus switched to a darker path, one that involved his dead friend. Ramen was still on the islands, and maybe Peter could catch him before he got away. The man made Peter's blood boil just thinking of him.

Harry didn't deserve to be pulled into this. If only Peter would've tried harder to make sure no one in New York knew of his whereabouts, with the exception of Level 7 and above of S.H.I.E.L.D, then maybe Harry would be alive. Well, it was too late now, he guessed, considering he's gonna be burnt and pored in to the sea.

He had looked so pale when Peter went to the M.E. lab. Shaking away the images of Harry's body on the cold steel tables of the M.E. Lab, he turned his full attention to her, shoving aside the no awkwardness plan because he couldn't keep thinking about Harry or Victor and plus he was finally tired of feeling her eyes on him.

The table went silent with Ava staring back at Peter with wide eyes from being caught. Peter gave her a brief lazy once-over, feigning indifference to keep himself from addressing the real problem. "How've you been Ava? It's been what four years since you left?"

Ava looked down and ignored the small dig his question made before meeting his relentless gaze. "I've been good. And uh actually five years."

His jaw tightened because surprisingly the pain from the day she left him was still buried somewhere deep within him and despite him trying to pretend not to remember, it still felt like his heart was being squeezed and light on fire at the same time.

He nodded, pushing away all the questions his younger self still yearned to ask her. Coulson would've been proud. "Right. What have you been up to in the past few of years?"

Kai and Matt leaned forward in interest as the two, who had a awkward tension all day when they were around each other outside of work-related business, finally talked about something other than work. Peter watched Ava pick at the label of her bottle. "I um well... I surfed professionally for a few years until I blew out my knee and realized I basically had to reinvent my lifestyle. Kai convinced me to join the academy when I was healed. And now I'm here."

Peter nodded and sat back still watching her. Refusing to squirm under his gaze, Ava cleared her throat and took a drink. "What about you Pete? How've you been? Whatcha been doing?"

Blinking a couple of times, trying to recall what he had done after she left and wanting desperately to move around the things he done because of her leaving, Peter shrugged, nonchalantly. "I uh went to college to major in neuroscience and biology but dropped out when I had to chose between my job with Nick and college. Later, some things came up and I couldn't be... Uh"

He paused casting a glance at the other two men before looking pointedly at Ava. "I couldn't exactly stick around and do some of the things I use to do, without harming others. Nick and Coulson sent me to the Navy under one of Coulson's old buddies and I just kinda liked it so it stuck for me. After awhile I worked my way up. You know the story about Harry but I pulled some strings with the governor to come out here and met Matthew, you, and Kai and here I am."

They sat there looking at each other for a brief moment before Matt interrupted the moment and clapped his hands, grinning wickedly. "Okay. So I am dying to know about the relationship you two once had. Aren't you Kai?"

He clapped his hand over Kai's shoulder and looked pointedly at the tense Peter and Ava. They both glanced at each other awkwardly before Peter shrugged and forced himself to loosen up.

"We dated in high school and broke up after graduation. Nothing else to tell." Peter's voice was clipped and indifferent and Ava grimaced at the sharp ache in her chest at the sound.

Kai frowned as something seemed to click for him. He looked at Ava questioningly. "Wait a second. Is this the haole who you nearly stayed in New York for? The one who caused you and Mom and Dad to fight about?...The one who took your fucking virginity?"

The further Kai got in his blunt questioning the more uncomfortable things became, the air becoming thick and way too warm. Ava's cheeks were on fire and her eyes were wide as she hissed, "Kai! Shut. Up."

Kai glared at Peter who had wide comical eyes and was watching Kai's face start to turn a shade of angry red and his hands curl into tight fists.

"You know, brah, you broke my cousin's heart and I've been wanting to beat the shit outta ya since the 1st night she cried herself to sleep." Kai growled, stood, his chair nearly tipping over from the force, and towered over Peter.

Confused, Peter looked at Ava who had her hand over her mouth shaking her head. He stood matching Kai in height, instantly becoming furious at Kai's accusations. "Okay first off, she broke it off with me. Secondly I had no clue that she got into it with your parents who by the way, I still don't know. I sure as hell didn't force her into fucking me. That was mutual buddy. And I didn't know she was fucking crying herself to sleep cause you know when she broke up with me, I naturally assumed she didn't feel the same as I did. So if you want to go throwing punches you better find someone who deserves them because the only fucking thing I done was try to make it work between us and then when it didn't I tried moving on."

Neither men backed down, but Matt and Ava stood placing hands on either of the men's arms. Ava stood tall, pushing away all the emotions that had surfaced since the beginning of this conversation, and spoke directly to Kai. "Peter's right. About everything. I broke up with him. He didn't know about my fight with Auntie Anela and Uncle Kam... or about the other thing. And it was certainly mutual when we both lost our virginity, but none of that should matter to you Kai, because that was my business. Mine. And Peter's. It's in the past, Kai. We're different people now. Just drop it."

For a second, Kai looked as if he was going to protest but then he shook his head, taking a deep breath and held out his hand. "I'm sorry, brah, really I am. I just remembered how it was for Ava when she got back and irrationally blamed everything on you. You gave me a second chance at doing what I love and I threatened you. Let me buy you a beer."

Looking from Kai to Ava and back, Peter nodded and shook the older man's hand.

After they're much more comfortable and only slightly tipsy, Ava found her way back to her team's table and laughed. "Ho brah," she nudged Peter, grinning.

She set down one of the beers she was double-fisting and took a drink straight out of the other one. "Check out those wahines."

Peter raised an eyebrow curiously and slowly turned around to see two pretty brunette locals at the bar eyeing him with extreme interest. A corner of his mouth went up into a charming smirk, and he gave them an acknowledging nod before turning back around.

Ava bit her lip to keep from laughing. She gave the girls a little wave too, and this time laughed aloud as they scowled enviously back at her.

"Wait, what? Check out those what?" Matt addressed the group, frustrated. "Why can't we all just agree to speak normal English? Seriously, I really would like to know why not."

"Hey, calm down, haole," Kai grinned. "Kid was just telling Pete about the two girls checking him out over there."

"This happen to you everywhere you go?" Kai asked Peter teasingly.

Ava sat back and smirked, propping her knee up against the table, remembering how jealousy was a small problem for her when they first started dating and he, as Spider-Man anyways, got a lot of attention from the frail damsels.

Peter didn't respond, but only smirked at Kai and took a long swig of his beer.

"Okay then, I'll answer for him – yes," Matt replied, pointing an accusatory finger at his new partner. "Yes. I don't think Pierce Brosnan himself has anything on this man. Yet he never shows any more than apathetic interest in any of these lovely ladies. Earlier on the way here, he even blew off a whole flipping corvette filled with with beautiful, respectfully, hot women!"

"You are forgetting Meg." Peter grunted behind the rim of his Longhorn.

"Oh right, your mysterious Navy princess."

"Your girlfriend's in the Navy?" Ava asked, brows furrowing, unsure of what this news means to her. "Is that where you met?"

Before Peter could respond, Matt said, "Of course! Work relationships. It's an interesting dynamic, Ava. You want to know why?"

"Want to slow down there, brah?" Kai laughed, indicating Matt's growing collection of empty bottles.

But Matt only ignored him and continued, bottle tipping precariously in his hand, "You see, Ava, when you put two people working in close quarters long enough, something will happen. Could be like, love, lust, whatever. But something will. It's only natural."

At this, Peter briefly glanced in Ava's direction. Their eyes met, and they both instantly looked down at the table again.

Matt downed another large gulp of beer. He pointed at Peter, grinning. "That's what happened with Megan. Am I right, Prince Charming?"

Peter shrugged and replied noncommittal. "Eh, well something happened."

"Okay, okay." Matt started. "Seriously though, if we are going to go through with this whole task force thing then you two need to drop the whole awkward ex thing. Because fair warning: I will absolutely, positively tease you endlessly about it."

Peter chuckled. "I have no doubt about that."

Kai leaned forward. "He may be drunk, but the man has a point. You two have to get over this awkward stage. I mean you both have seemed to move on. Ava with her boyfriend Alex McKinney and Peter with his Navy girl so it shouldn't be that hard. Besides Ava you said you guys were good friends before you dated and you also said you're different people, too."

Peter glanced sheepishly over at Ava who slowly met his gaze. She nodded slowly and smiled softly at him. "I'm game, if you are."

They watched as Peter looked down at his bottle and picked at his label, before finally looking back up and gave her his best smile, sticking out his hand. "Hey, Commander Peter Parker at your service."

Ava bit her limp before laughing, all dimples and teeth, before grasping his hand and shaking it. "Ava Ayala. It's a pleasure to meet you, Peter."

The new team sat in the corner booth of the bar simply staring at each other, before they erupted in laughter with Ava's hand still in Peter's hand, Matt nursing his bottle and Kai sitting back in his chair.

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><p><strong> Sorry latinoheat151! Had to do it! Haha, hope you can forgive me! :) Please don't forget to leave a review! I do read them and very much appreciate them!<strong>


	8. Chapter 8: Surprise visit

**Hey guys so I guess I didn't make it clear about Peter's and Ava's current relationship status. Ava is dating a guy named Alex McKinney and Peter's relationship with Megan Turner is a bit more complicated. They're more of the friends with benefits kind of relationship because they both have slight commitment issues and don't want to have to label what they are. I hope that kinda clears that up for anyone who was confused. Here's another chapter for you guys! Hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

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><p>The following day, Peter had brought Parsley back to the interrogation rooms in the basement of the team's HQ. With many persuasive methods, he finally got the twisted man to give up the location Victor would pay him at. After that, the team had worked double time, coordinating plans with SWAT teams for extraction and arrests, but things went to hell when they realized it was a set up.<p>

The next few days were filled with desperate attempts at raiding old known safe houses of the still MIA Ramen brother, new cases opening and closing successfully, odd team bonding moments, and of course, theatrical rants from one very dramatic blonde detective.

The team was sitting around their headquarters main office, catching their first break after busting their first big gambling ring case.

"Really? Ray said that?" Kai laughed, as he unbuttoned his cuff links, referring to Garret Ray, one of the underbosses that Ava had to get close to during the undercover op. "He actually said, 'I should come here more often' after seeing you?"

"Why do you find that so hard to believe, cuz? Always the tone of disbelief." Ava pulled the loose ponytail out of her hair and flung it at Kai. "Come on, I made a pretty good dumb girl." She spun around, still in her undercover waitress dress – a short red kimono-style wrap that ended high above her thighs; her toned calves seemed to go on for miles before ending in high black heels. Her hair, now loose, tumbled out in waves onto her shoulders.

Peter swallowed, forcing himself to keep his gaze on the celebratory drinks he was currently carrying out of the mini fridge in the break room, and not on Ava's legs. He set four bottles down.

"So how'd you do it?" Peter asked Ava, as he sat down in a chair they had pulled in to watch a movie marathon on the monitor, another one of those team bonding things they'd started after debriefing was over. His first mistake. "Word is, Ray's not a man easily impressed."

"Oh, man. Okay." She laughed and held up a finger as if to say 'wait for it' and rearranged her face into a sultry smirk. Slowly and gracefully, she drew herself out of her chair and walked over to where Peter was sitting.

His eyebrows shot up in surprise. Don't look, he reminded himself. Eyes on the neck up. It's just an act.

Ava giggled stupidly and twirled a strand of hair around her pinky. When she reached Peter, she stood behind his chair and leaned in close towards his ear. "Wow, big important business men," she whispered huskily, hot breath grazing against his skin. "How about a little drink before work?"

Her hands ran tantalizingly down the sides of his biceps.

He turned his head slightly so he could meet her eyes, which was his next mistake. They were too close and his gaze instinctively went to her lips. They were so close all he would have to do is tilt his head and lean. He froze when he seen the tip of her pink tongue dart out and wet her lips, so fast he swore he imagined it.

Peter held his breath, heart beating in his ears. He didn't try to move; she finally pulled back and only his eyes followed Ava as she circled him in pretend drink preparation. He felt glued to his seat.

When she finally broke character and collapsed back into her chair with a breathless laugh, Peter exhaled sharply and chuckled, shaking his head. His heart resumed beating normally. He glanced at his partner and rolled his eyes at Matt's sly, knowing grin. Then he turned and swallowed at Kai's grimace and averted his eyes again.

"And that's how it's done," Ava grinned, holding up her cold beer. "Okole maluna."

Peter chuckled. "Yeah," he replied, absentmindedly. "Yeah… that would do it."

He held up his bottle to his teammates and tried to recompose himself. "Okole maluna."

Little did he know, she was trying to do the same thing. Those biceps didn't just look bigger they were bigger and firmer too. She nearly melted when he turned to face her. He had looked like he wanted to just lean in, but no, there would never be a chance for that again, she reminded herself. She had made sure of that when she broke his heart in the airport all those years ago. She frowned lightly at the sharp ache the thought brought.

Peter tsked as the two other males dug into their takeout. He stood, making a path toward the monitor, but stopped behind Ava to lean in next to her head effectively snapping her out of her thoughts to stiffen beside him. "Now just what is it about you that makes these guys give in so quickly? _Rookie_ got some secret that you're holding out on us?" His words were filled with amusement and hilarity as he put emphasis on the 'rookie'.

She scoffed, feigning indignation, but her slight snort gave away her amusement with his statement. "Yeah brah, it's called boobs and knowing what those guys are looking for."

Peter laughed good-naturedly as she lightly back-handed him in the chest to make him lean back a little.

"Seriously though," Kai grinned. "Seems like we can't go a single case without some shady bad guy hitting on the kid."

Ava raised her eyebrows and smirked playfully. "The team's lucky I'm such an asset, eh cuz?"

As if anticipating a response, Kai turned to the other two men in the room just as their mouths opened with wry smirks. "If you even make a pun on that, brahs," Kai warned them, "I'll put your head in yours. _Both_ of you."

Peter grinned over at him still slightly bent over Ava's chair when the elevator doors opened and a familiar looking face stopped in front of the four. Matt and Kai sat there takeout aside and looked at the business looking man with suspicion, clearly wondering what a man dressed so snazzy was doing there after 8. "Coulson?" Peter straightened immediately, stepping away from Ava's chair as she stared in shock at her old mentor. Phil Coulson smiled politely at the pair, his smile a tiny bit strained at how close the two were when he walked in. "Ayala. Parker. It's been awhile since the two of you have been in the same place before." He stared hard at Peter, who shuffled his feet and rubbed the back of his neck. Ava stood and crossed the distance to give him a one-sided hug. "Yeah well we're working together again. He's my boss."

That seemed to knock Peter out of his nervous habits, because he walked over, shook Coulson's hand and said, "Not her boss. Just the leader of the task force I told you about. What are you doing here? I mean, I thought you would've at least called when you were on the island or something."

Coulson shrugged, his smile widening as he joked, "Well, I couldn't resist the looks on your faces when I showed up unannounced. It was worth it."

Shaking his head, Peter chuckled quietly before stepping back and gesturing to the other two in the room, introducing them quickly. Coulson shook their hands, giving them just his last name before looking back to Peter. "Can we talk? Privately?"

Peter spared a small glance at his team, his eyes lingering on Ava's curious gaze a little longer than the others, before nodding and gesturing to his office. "Yeah, my office is right over there."

After closing the door behind them, Coulson turned to the former superhero, his arms crossing over his chest as he narrowed his eyes. Peter met the older man's relentless gaze and knew he was about to be lectured so he heaved a small sigh as he leaned against the edge of his desk, folding his own arms over his toned chest. Coulson, however, just simply stared at him and all Peter could think of was how the other three must think it was something weird as he and Coulson just simply had a stare down in the middle of his office. It was Coulson who finally broke the silence. "What the hell was that?"

Peter knew what he was referring to, but decided to feign ignorance in hopes they would skip the lecture he had for sure memorized by now. "What are you talking about?"

"I thought I told you not to get too close and while I meant emotionally at the time, I would like to think it went for literally too."

Peter snorted. "Seriously? I was just teasing her about something. Hell, we all were."

"Oh yeah? Well I didn't walk in on the other two cozied up behind her grinning like a Cheshire Cat! It all started with teasing and goofing around to begin with, Parker! I've told you and told you it's just too dangerous to be around your old friends and family! That includes Ava!" Coulson's face started turning a slightly darker tinge of red as Peter again failed to see what he should do. Peter stood up straighter, his muscles tightening and tensing. "Why? Coulson you've told me this for years and I still don't know why it's too dangerous! So tell me! Just tell me why it's too damn dangerous."

That seemed to calm the older man down a bit for he sighed lowly. "Because the Ramen brothers we're hired by the same man that wanted your parents dead and he has transferred his obsession to the next generation of Parkers, the only generation left. You."

Furrowing his brows at the new information, Peter shook his head. "I don't understand. My parents died in a plane accident. My dad was just a biologist and my mom was just an average accountant. Why would someone hire assassins to kill them? It doesn't make any sense."

Coulson took a deep breath, willing away the uncertainty. The kid deserved to know. "Parker, listen, what I'm about to say might be a lot to process. I think you should—"

"Just tell me, Phil." Peter pleaded, his curiosity at its peak.

"You're parents... They worked for the SHIELD, Peter. Your father was a decorated solder for the army before Fury recruited him. Your mother followed in her father's, your grandfather's, footsteps and became a highly skilled SHIELD translator and data analyst. While on a mission to investigate James Welker, they posed as traitors and double agents to infiltrate his criminal organizations in Algeria. Unfortunately they were discovered. Welker framed them and brought in the Ramen assassins to kill the two. He originally wanted them to be brought back and tortured but the Ramen brothers sabotaged their airplane and caused it to crash instead. They were subsequently presumed dead, as two burnt bodies were found in the remains. He was never a biologist and she was never an accountant, Parker. I'm sorry."

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><p>Outside the office, Matt continues to look over at the glass office trying to get a read on his partner. "Wonder what they're talking about?" He inquired aloud causing the other two to look up and follow his gaze into the office and seeing their boss begrudgingly listening to the older man with a huge frown set on his face.<p>

Kai took a bit out of his takeout. "Well whatever it is, Peter doesn't look to thrilled about it."

Matt nodded, gaze still locked onto the "private" conversation. "No kidding. The man has his aneurysm face locked in."

Nearly chocking on his food, Kai laughed out right at the blonde's absurd remark. "What the hell is that?"

Matt shrugged and gestured wildly at his partner. "You know it's worse than his normal Super SEAL stoic face. His face just gets so.. So grumpy. His nose flares and his eyebrows just come so close together they look like a unibrow. He basically goes all Arnold Schwarzenegger."

Kai laughs again, glancing at his cousin as she continues to look at the office in interest. "Hey, Ava you hear this?"

She jerks her head around to face the two and plastered on a smile. "Aneurysm face, yeah, yeah. No clue where you come up with this stuff, brah." In all honesty she was just half paying attention to her cousin and the detective. She wondered why Coulson was here and why Peter seemed to distant himself upon the older man's arrival. Maybe Peter had some other under the table type thing with SHIELD. No, he said that he was out of that. But maybe...

Kai leaned over and brushed his hand over her shoulder. "Hey, you okay, Water Woman?"

Nodding, Ava tucked her legs in the chair. "Yeah, I just... It's weird that Coulson is here."

Kai looked past her to the office before meeting her dark gaze again. "Maybe. Uh, how'd you say you guys know him?"

At this, Ava glanced over at the blonde as he continued to watch his partner and Coulson with adamant interest. She lowered her voice for just Kai to hear. "He was with SHIELD when I was White Tiger."

The older cousin nodded, keeping his voice just as quiet. "Oh. So Parker was apart of SHIELD too? Or do you think Coulson is here for that?"

Ava's stare hardened as she looked back at her cousin. "Kai, you know I can't give out any information about that, but yes I think Coulson is here because of SHIELD."

* * *

><p>Peter stood silent, processing every detail he had just been told, before his shoulders slumped forward and he stared blankly back at Coulson. "Why hasn't someone told me before?" He asked, quietly, the betrayal lining his words effectively.<p>

Coulson sighed again. "It wasn't something that was suppose to be told, Peter. You know how these things work."

Peter scoffed, his hand flailing out as his voice rose in unfiltered rage. "Yeah, but this is my parents we're talking about. Not some random high profiled targets. I had a right to know who my parents really were and why they died Coulson!" Peter stopped to reign in his anger, squeezing his eyes shut and clenching his jaw. He hasn't heard everything yet, and he has a feeling things only get worse. He finally opens his eyes and stared hard at Phil. "Keep going."

Coulson slowly nodded. "When Danny and Luke were killed we weren't positive Welker was behind it until they went after Sam and Mary-Jane. We figured out what it was that connected them."

"Me." Peter finished for him, averting his eyes to the ground before looking back for confirmation.

"Yeah, but even when we made the connection, we weren't sure if it was Welker. We thought it would be better to be safe than sorry so we sent you away. When there were no counter actions when you weren't contacting anyone outside of restricted areas, we knew it had to be him."

Peter shook his head. "But I don't understand something. Why would he go after the people around me? If his obsession passed from my parents to me then why not try to kill me?"

Coulson glanced over his shoulder at the three outside of the office and moved to stand beside Peter, leaning against the desk. "The obsession is to make you suffer, Parker... And what have you been most protective over you're entire life?"

Realization dawned on him as Peter looked out at his new teammates and friends and he swallowed. After a few moments of digesting the sudden realization, Peter finally spoke, his voice becoming cold and distant. "So to insure their safety, I need to leave. Is that it? You want me to go back to being under Keith's wing in the desert. Out of sight, out of mind, right?"

Coulson swallowed past his sympathy for the young man, placing a hand on the kid's shoulder. "No, not necessarily. Just don't get attached, that's all I'm saying. If Welker has eyes on you and he sees you get attached, he will strike. I know it's hard but you have to shut off your emotions, okay? You can't get too close."

"Or they'll end up like Danny, Luke, and Harry? Wow, I'm some kind of friend." Peter scoffed silently. "Okay, I won't. You won't have to worry about anymore bodies turning up because of the ole Parker curse."

"Peter, I'm sorry."

Frowning, Peter stood up straight. "No, it's— thank you Coulson for telling me. My— _The_ team will find this guy and bring him in. Don't worry about it."

At this, Coulson too stood up straight, clasping his hands together in front of him. "Actually, um, this case is SHIELD's, so you can't, but I have got permission for Keith's team to take over and give you daily updates."

Peter sighed, but nodded his head curtly adding, "Okay. Thanks."

* * *

><p>Later, when Coulson is gone and they're all watching the movies, Ava switched her gaze over at her 'boss'. She doesn't understand why he said he wasn't, which she guessed if they were technical, he really wasn't, the governor was, but he had never told her before not to call him that so she had assumed it didn't matter. The man in question seemed to be in his own world now, a world that looked too cold and dark from his outside features a far cry from his usual self-assured, humorous self. He was definitely wearing his 'aneurysm face' as Matt had said earlier.<p>

As if sensing her gaze, Peter snapped back into reality and turned, his piercing blue eyes meeting hers. She gave him a small smile and glanced at the other two, seeing that Kai had nodded off in what looked to be a very uncomfortable position and Matt was nearly asleep as well, before she turned back to Peter. "You okay?"

Peter rubbed a hand over his face and seemed to actually contemplate her question before he sighed and forced out a small smile. "Yeah, yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Pete... You've been really quiet since you and Coulson talked."

"Oh, I uh, I'm just tired. It's been a long day." He managed past the lump in his throat. Ava watched him as he took a sip of his beer. "Yeah, but what did Coulson wanna talk about?"

Peter stiffened in his seat, averting his eyes, but didn't say anything.

"Pete? Was it about SHIELD?" She inquired softly.

He finally looked back at her after a moment and she nearly flinched at the betrayal burning in his blue eyes. "Ava, I—"

"Can't talk about it. Right." She finished for him, turning back to the movie and trying to ignore the feel of his relentless gaze locked on her. He heaved a sigh and rolled his chair closer, lowering his voice. "Look, it's not that I don't want to tell you, okay? Because I do. It's just—"

"Pete you don't have to explain. I know how SHIELD works. SHIELD information is only privy to SHIELD people and certain others outside of it. I get it." She interrupted him again with an edge in her voice.

Noticing the hardness of her voice, he leaned in, knowing why she was suddenly acting like this. She thought he was still with SHIELD. "Hey, listen to me, I don't work for SHIELD Ava. Not anymore."

She finally turned back to him and opened her mouth to speak but the two nearly jumped apart when Matt's drearily amused voice met their ears. "Now just what are you two lovebirds whispering about over there?"

Peter glared at his partner, throwing a crumpled wrapper and smirking as it hit its target right in the forehead and an indignant "Hey!" came from the blonde detective. "Go back to sleep Matt."

Matthew narrowed his eyes and grumpily muttered, "I would if I knew with absolute certainty that you two won't try to get it on right beside us, but I don't, so no."

Ava and Peter growled in unison, "Matt!"

Which accidentally woke Kai up as he shot up in his chair and looked around before grumbling when his gaze landed on his teammates. Matt finally stood and grabbed his stuff. "As much as I'd love to continue teasing you two, I have a big day with my wonderful daughter tomorrow so I'm gonna head home."

"Right behind you, buddy. It's getting pretty late anyways." Peter stated, standing and stretching his arms over his head with a low groan. Ava's gaze flitted over his built form as his shirt lifted with his arms, revealing more rippling muscles hidden under the fabric and she immediately flushed and looked away. "Yeah same goes for me, hey Ava?" Kai said to catch his cousin's attention and once she looked at him, he continued, "Are you still coming tomorrow? Kate is really looking forward to seeing you again."

Ava slowly, reluctantly nodded and Matt, being his nosy self, asked, "Kate? Who's Kate?"

Ava stood, avoiding Kai's gaze, and picked up her stuff. Kai sighed. "She's my fiancé. Her and Ava weren't the best of friends when they first met."

Ava snapped her head up to meet his gaze, a fire lighting in her eyes. "She left you, Kai! She left you when you needed her the most!"

Kai stiffened. "No, she said she needed time and then she came back, Ava."

Ava's lips twisted into a nasty snarl. "Yeah, after two years!"

Matt and Peter watched as the two normally joking and jolly cousins glared and continued arguing with each other. Matt finally stepped in with arms outstretched between the two when Ava threw a crumpled piece of paper at Kai's head. "Hey! Hey! Calm down!"

The two cousins went deadly calm nearly at the same exact time and Matt winced as their glares simultaneously locked onto him. He patted Peter's shoulder, muttering, "Okay, scary ass cousins arguing is gonna be your job to break up... Starting now."

Peter narrowed his eyes at his partner before looking at the two silent cousins. "Okay, so start from the top." Immediately after saying this he had to shut them up because they both started at the same time causing them to start arguing with each other again. Peter held up a hand, slipping authority into his voice. "One at a time. Kai, you first."

"When I lost my badge over being accused of stealing money from the evidence locker, Kate said she needed some time and that's what she got and now we are back together and engaged." Kai said, still glaring at his baby cousin. Peter nodded. "Okay. Ava, your turn."

Ava answered with venom in her voice. "The bitch left him for two years and not once checked on him until the entire thing died down and Kai, being the honorable man he is, took her back without any question and then proceeded to propose to her!"

Nodding again, Peter shrugged looking at Kai. "You happy with her?"

Kai nodded. "Of course."

Peter turned back to Ava. "Then, there shouldn't be a problem."

Matt nodded silently agreeing with his partner for once. Ava's eyes widen in shock because obviously the two didn't see the point. "But she left him! For two years! When she should have been by his side supporting him!"

Peter sighed, his patience running thin. "Yeah well it isn't the first time a girl left her boyfriend, Ava, but the point is _she_ came _back_."

_Ouch_. Ava immediately snapped her mouth shut, flinching at the sting his comment left. Peter immediately regretted saying it, but it was too late to take it back so he sighed instead. "Look, he's happy with her so just be happy for him. Now I think I'm gonna go home because I'm extremely tired. See you guys, Monday."

With that, Peter brushed past his teammates, pointedly avoiding Ava's eyes, and left. Matt seemed to not want to stay in case the two got into a argument again so he silently followed his partner's actions, barely sparing the two cousins a, "Bye."

Ava finally forced herself to move, turning her head so she could look at her cousin. "Kai... I'm sorry. I'll be at dinner tomorrow. Is it okay if I bring Alex?"

Kai gave her a small smile, walking over and giving her a tight hug. "It's okay and sure. Alex is always welcomed. Listen, I understand where you're coming from, cuz, and I appreciate your concern but I love her. It's that simple."

Ava nodded, stepping back. "Okay, so we're good?"

Kai playfully bumped her shoulder making her dimpled grin break out. "Of course Water Woman."

Her smile seemed to broaden at his words and her cousin couldn't help but smile back. "Good. Good. See you tomorrow, then."

* * *

><p><strong>Okule Maluna basically means cheers or bottoms up. Please R&amp;R!<strong>


	9. Chapter 9: Running and Belonging

**Sorry! Sorry! I'm horrible at the updating thing, I know, but I do have the next few chapters typed up so I'll try to get them up sometime this week. Thanks for all the reviews, follows and favs! Love them, really! Here's the next chapter!**

**Chapter 9: Running and Belonging**

* * *

><p>Running wasn't always Peter's favorite activity. He use to prefer the exhilarating experience of swinging past skyscrapers and the adrenaline filling his veins as he free-fell until he caught himself on some pole or wall, but since those weren't exactly an option for him when the tallest thing there was, was a small hut or tent in the desert or on some off-the-grid coastline, he has taken to running and swimming like an addict. It clears his head, let's him have a moment of unfiltered peace, and just enjoy the new scenery he has on his trek from his new home as he continues his run along the boardwalk. The sun had just broke free of the horizon, casting its gorgeous rays down on him and the other early risers who done their daily ritual. Breathing in deeply and slowly letting it out, Peter slowed his pace so he wouldn't run into a couple of teenagers carrying their surfboards toward the parking lot before he picked up his pace again. "Parker?"<p>

Stopping and looking around to find who had called his name, Peter let a smug grin spread across his features as he spotted a slick haired blonde munching on a bagel. "Matt, didn't think you would be the type to be up before 8."

Scoffing at his partner who he met halfway, Matt gestured to the young girl in a bright pink swim suit beside him and rebuked, "I'm not, sweaty pants. Monkey, here is. She wanted to get a head start and play on the beach before we headed up to Kai's for the wedding shower."

Peter looked down and crouched in front of the sheepish girl. "Hi, you must be Miss Grace, right? Your dad has told me so much about you, but don't worry they're all good things."

She nodded, smiling softly. "What's your name?"

"Peter, but you can call me Pete if you want." Peter held his hand out and grinned as the young brunette took his hand and shook it once. He playfully winced and shook out his hand. "Wow, you sure do have a grip. This may be a little to soon to ask, but can I have your autograph?"

Scrunching her brows, Grace glanced up at her father who shrugged, his own brows furrowed at his partner's weird antics. Grace looked back at Peter skeptically. "Why?"

Peter made a face, feigning shock. "Are you kidding? With that grip? You must be Superwoman or something."

Grace giggled and shook her head. "You're silly."

Peter laughed and pouted, causing Matt to gape. "So it's a no-go on the autograph?"

Grace shook her head and Peter shrugged and stood, meeting his partner's bewildered gaze. "What?"

Matt blinked, and gestured wildly at him. "What? 'What' he says? Wow. Okay, let's see, you just pouted like some kid stole your candy! You! Mr. Super SEAL!"

Peter chuckled. "Uh, it's not that big of a deal, Matt. I was just trying to make Grace laugh."

Getting bored already, Grace walked over and started playing in the sand alittle ways from them as the two continued to talk.

Matt watched her for a second and then turned on his partner. "No, no. Can we just rewind and let me get a picture cause Kai and Ava will never believe me. Well, Ava might. I don't know what kind of poison you two were into, kink-wise. Role play? Age play? Nah, I bet you two were—"

"Matt." Peter deadpanned, narrowing his eyes at his partner.

"No, seriously, what's up with that? I mean, you two avoid every question I throw at you, for the most part anyways. Kai doesn't know much about the whole situation either aside from what he's already, uh, blurted out. Come on, she's nowhere around and you can trust me, man. How serious were the two of you?"

Peter sighed and shrugged, scuffing his shoe against the boardwalk before running a hand through his messy hair. "I don't know, Matt. From my side of the relationship, things were pretty great and I hadn't planned on ending things, okay? Is that good enough for you?"

Matt watched his partner for a second as Peter averted his gaze. "Holy shit. You loved her!"

At this, Peter snapped his intense blue eyes back to his partner and stiffened at the accusatory stare he met. He forced himself to relax, glancing down at his partner's attire. "What are you wearing?"

"Uh, what?" Matt frowned at the quick change of subject and looked down at his dress shirt and slacks, straightening his silk tie. "What do you mean what am I wearing?"

Peter scoffed and gestured around them. "We're at a beach and that's what you're wearing? Do you own a pair of board shorts?"

"Wha– Of course I own a pair! I just don't want to swim today! Is that a crime? Are you gonna book me cause I didn't wear board shorts to the beach?"

"Of course not! I just think it's kinda ridiculous that you're on the beach wearing slacks and a tie! Speaking of swimming, do you even know how to swim?"

Matt glared at his partner, his hands already gesturing wildly as he sputtered, "Yes! Of course I do! Why would you even ask me something like that?"

Peter shrugged. "You never say anything about it."

Matt scoffed. "Oh so that automatically means I can't swim? Listen, I swim for survival, not fun."

Rolling his eyes, Peter shook his head. "Whatever."

Grace chose that moment to run up and interrupt Matt's next tsunami of rants. "Matty, can I get surfing lessons one day?"

Matt turned to his daughter, contemplating it. "Uh, I tell you what Monkey, you remember Ava? We ran into her last weekend at the market."

Grace nodded. "Yes, sir. She works with you two, right?"

"That's right, but she use to surf professionally. I'll talk to her and see if she's willing to give you a few lessons, huh? How's that sound?"

Grace beamed, smiling widely at him. "Sounds great, Matty."

Matt gave her a one-sided hug before she took off toward her sand castle again. Peter furrowed his brows. "Matty? What's with that?"

Matt cut his eyes over at his partner. "Don't."

"What?" Peter asked, a little too innocently. "I'm just wondering, Matty."

Peter laughed as he was met with a solid punch to the arm. Matt muttered sullenly, "Jackass."

"Who? Me? Nah!" Peter joked and chuckled at Matt's glare.

"Okay you wanna play hard ball? Alright I'll hit us a homer. So you took Ava's v-card?"

Peter nearly choked on his own saliva and he eyed Matt for a second. "I—yeah. I mean, uh, why would you ask something like that?"

Matt grins wickedly before looking slightly concerned. "Blackmail... You didn't just like, you know? Go Neanderthal on her did you?Please say you at least made it a tiny bit romantic?"

Peter furrowed his brows and shook his head, taking a step away. "I'm not having this conversation with you."

Matt snorted. "Oh, I believe you are. It's either that or I go straight to Kai and tell him the nastiest story ever. Don't forget he has like 50 shotguns and he definitely knows how to use them."

Peter eyed him, weighing his options before sighing. "Yeah, yeah. It wasn't planned the way it happened though. I mean, she was pissed at me for doing something idiotic that day so I had planned a rooftop dinner thing. I fixed it up; had blankets, some lights hung up, and her favorite food all ready for her. She had yelled at me the entire way up, but man when she finally seen it... Her reaction was worth every shout and every name she threw at me."

Matt smiled softly and chuckled. "So big bad superSEAL does have a heart. For awhile there I started thinking you were a machine, but looks as if I'm mistaken which isn't often so be grateful."

Peter rolled his eyes. "Grateful? You do realize you just insulted me, blackmailed me into telling you something I didn't wanna talk about, and then basically complimented me by insulting me... Don't you?"

Matt looked thoughtfully back at his partner for a second before shrugging. "Eh."

"You're so infuriating." Peter sighed, shaking his head. Matt looked offended, placing his hands at his hips. "Me? I'm infuriating? You put my life on the line every single time we catch a case just for fun apparently because you are just... Just... A Neanderthal who is crazy as hell!"

Peter smirked. "You're starting to repeat yourself, Matty."

Matt gaped, his hands gesturing wildly now. "See! See! This right here is another thing! I just told you to not call me that and what do you do? 'You're starting to repeat yourself Matty.' I swear that's some bullshit."

Peter grinned and held up his hands in mock surrender. "Okay, okay. I'm pretty infuriating at times too. Truce?"

"What?" Matt stared at Peter's outstretched hand incredulously and scoffed, waving him off. "My gosh, of course it's truce, you idiot. Why would you even ask that? 'Truce' he says."

Laughing, Peter dropped his hand and shifted his feet. Matt check his watch, realizing time had flown by and they had an hour and a half to get back, take showers, and head to Kai's. "Grace! Honey it's about time to go!" Matt watched as his daughter stood, dusting herself off and started for them. He looked over at the sweaty mess beside him. "You are taking a shower first right? Cause you reek."

Peter furrowed his brows and glanced back at his partner. "Yeah, I'm taking a shower after my run, always do, but what do you mean first?"

"What?" Matt asked, confused before realizing what he had said earlier. "Oh, before you go to Kai's, duh."

Peter shifted again, rubbing his neck. "I'm not going. "

Matt scoffed. "Of course you are. We can't have the team together without our crazy one with control issues."

Peter's lips twitched with the beginnings of a smile before rolling his eyes. "I don't have control issues. And Matt I can't go."

Matt looked at him as if saying, 'why not?', and Peter shrugged, trying to act nonchalant and schooling his features into a blank mask. "I have errands."

"Errands? You have errands? You can run errands any day. Come on, it's their wedding shower thing. You should come. "

Peter sighed, glancing down. "I didn't get them anything."

"Not a problem. We can share, isn't that right Monkey?" He finished as Grace made it to the two. Grace shrugged, simply saying, "Sure."

"See? Problem fixed. I'll pick you up in an hour." Matt smirked as Peter nodded, and started for his Camaro with Grace in tow. Peter shook his head, turning in the direction he came and starting his pace up again. Looks like his day just got a little more interesting.

* * *

><p>Running use to be one of Ava's most enjoyable hobbies, but for some reason she doesn't do it very often nowadays, opting instead to catch some waves or let her troubles drift away in the sway of the ocean as she swam. She use to love how calm it made her, giving her some sense of peace in her hectic life. She didn't know why she didn't run just for the fun of it as often as she use to, but at that exact moment, watching in what felt like slow motion, as her boyfriend and Peter. Freaking. Parker stood, chatting it up like they were long lost buddies, that she suddenly got the urge to run and run as fast as she could from what was occurring on Kai's patio. "Hey, Kai, what's he doing here?" She tries to ignore the way her voice drips with panic. Kai looks up from sitting the salad bowl on the counter and follows her gaze to the back patio. "Who? Pete? I called him and Matt this morning and invited them. I told you that already, Ava. "<p>

Ava looked bewildered for a moment. "I know, but you said he couldn't make it."

Kai shrugged, placing more items on the counter. "Well, looks like plans changed and he did make it."

Narrowing her eyes at her cousin, Ava stalked over and helped him, mumbling, "I can see that."

Kai looked up at the sullen tone of her voice and chuckled. "What's the problem, cuz? Thought you two were past the whole awkward ex thing? I mean we've been at this for, what about a month and a half? You guys haven't done the ex stuff since our first case."

Ava's eyes grew wide and she elbowed him in the side as one of their gossipy aunts walked through the kitchen. When the 'intruder' walked back out after placing a pie at the end of the counter, Ava looked at Kai pointedly. "Could you be quiet?"

Kai laughed. "What? It was just Auntie Tina. She wouldn't possibly go around telling people your boss is your ex."

Ava grinned despite herself and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, because she's not a gossiper at all. Look, I just don't want any crap started, okay? Especially if you're parents are coming."

Kai paused and shook his head. "Translation: You haven't told Alex yet and now the two are talking."

"What? Oh, come on, that..." She stops at the look she receives from her cousin before shaking her head in dismay. "... Is right on the money. Cuz, can you blame me? It's kinda not the ideal thing, having my ex and my boyfriend chat over a beer."

Especially if the ex is Peter, she adds mentally.

Kai shrugged. "Technically lemonade and I'm sure it isn't the ideal thing for your boss to be your ex either but you guys are making it work, right? Look just calm down. I'm sure everything will be okay."

* * *

><p>After arriving and having a quick conversation with Kai and his fiancée, Peter had stopped to grab himself a glass of lemonade and by the time he had stepped out onto Kai's lanai he realized that Matt must've already been very acquainted with some of Kai's guests for he was already mingled in with the rest of them with Grace right on his heels. Peter felt alittle out of place not knowing anyone other than his teammates and that was one reason he had decided not to go in the first place, that and the fact that him simply being there endangered everyone. "Intimidating, right?"<p>

Peter startled out of his thoughts, turning to find a tall, clean-cut Hawaiian in a business suit, standing behind him with his own drink and looking out at the rest of the guests in Kai's backyard. Peter shook his head. "I'm not sure I follow."

Amused dark eyes met his followed by a wide smile and the other man chuckled. "How many people the Kelly's know on this island. For awhile I actually thought they were kin to half the island."

Peter mulled it over before shrugging. "I think it's resourceful to know a lot of people. If you know people then that means you have connections and connections can be helpful in the most crucial times."

Chuckling, the man nodded. "You must be one of his HPD friends that stuck by him with the strategic thinking and all."

"Actually I'm not," Peter smirked proudly, holding his hand out. "Commander Peter Parker. I run the governor's task force."

Taking Peter's hand with a firm grip, the man nodded. "Oh, okay. Wow, my mistake. So you work with Ava too?"

Peter furrowed his brows, suddenly not sure he was going to like where this conversation might be heading. "Uh, yeah, I do. I work with her, Kai, and Matt over there." He gestured to his blonde partner chatting it up with one of the leggy cousins of Kate's.

"Right, of course. You guys are making quite the reputation for yourselves, aren't you?"

Peter chuckled, taking a sip of his lemonade before answering, "That's the plan, Mr...?"

"Oh! I'm sorry! Where are my manners? I'm Dr. Alex McKinney, but you can call me Alex."

Peter frowned, slowly recognizing the name and realizing he was with Ava. He rubbed his neck with his free hand, hoping that the conversation doesn't become awkward because really that's just all he needs these days. More awkward conversations and meetings. "A Dr.? What do you do?"

"I'm a cardiologist." Alex replied, sipping on his drink.

Peter's brows shot up instantly. "Really? That sounds amazing. I mean what's it like to be able to save people like that?"

Alex grinned. "Well I'd imagine nearly the same as when you guys save someone except of course I'm not in any line of danger most of the time and you guys are, well, constantly. "

Peter chuckled. "Well for what it's worth, what you do has got to be the second coolest job ever, the first of course being mine."

Alex laughed heartedly at Peter's joke as Ava and Kai stepped out onto the lanai. Kai met his fiancée on one side of the patio as Ava stopped uncertainly between the two men that have wormed their way into her life, inhaling sharply as Alex immediately moved to stand next to her and wrap his arm around her waist. "You have a funny boss, Ava. How come you never talk about him?" Alex grinned down at her before glancing back at Peter, his grin slowly fading as he recognized the sudden tension in the air. "Did I say something wrong?"

After a few tense seconds, Ava cleared her throat and shook her head. "No, no. I– well, we–"

"Hey! There's my favorite rookie!" Matt exclaimed, pulling Ava into a brief side hug as he stepped up onto the patio. Ava immediately relaxed in his friendly gesture silently thankful for the interruption. Her dimples broke out as she smiled at him. "Matt, would you stop calling me that already?"

Peter smirked. "I don't know. I think the rookie nickname has grown on me. What do you say, Matty?"

Matt glared at his partner jabbing his finger into Peter's shoulder. "What did I tell you about that? That's not cool man. "

Peter feigned hurt before looking between Matt and Ava, his piercing gaze settling on Ava with an almost sinful smirk. "Okay, so we have Matty and Rookie or my favorite, Kitty Cat, " Peter laughed when Ava gaped and shot forward from her place between Alex and Matt to nail Peter in the arm. Peter grasped her wrist to stop her only to accidentally cause her to stumble into him. They laughed, giggling and snickering the entire time it took for them to straighten themselves, and Peter finally continued. "So what's mine and Kai's nickname?"

Upon hearing his name from where he was speaking to Kate, Kai turned to join their conversation, one hand guiding his fiancée with him. "My nickname? I don't know if I particularly like you guys coming up with my nickname." He joked as his fingers threaded with Kate's. Peter's gaze flickered over to the pair, a smile creeping into his face at how they just seem to fit. The slightly shorter woman leaned closer almost unconsciously to her soon-to-be husband, her short dark hair brushing his shoulder. And Peter thought to himself that they seemed like they were made for each other with how much they were in sync and so joyous with huge smiles on both faces.

Matt chuckled wickedly, pulling Peter from his thoughts and back to the conversation. "Well hate to say it but you guys already have nicknames. Isn't that right Ava?"

Ava turned her face into the side of Alex's shoulder trying to hide her smile. Peter's smile faded a bit at the sight and when he averted his eyes he seen that Kate was silently watching his reactions after seeing the way him and Ava had interacted moments before just as he had watched her and Kai's interactions. He gave her a small smile and turned his attention back to the conversation as Ava spoke. "Yeah, Kai you're Flowers because you like those God awful tourist shirts, that or it's Kai Pie which I honestly don't have an explanation and Pete has quite a few thanks to Matt here. Let's see, uh, Neanderthal is one of his favorites, there's, uh, superSEAL, Mr. Snarky Badass, simply Parker or Pete, oh and Jackass, but my favorites are still Web-for-brains, Webhead, or you know the best one, Idiot." She finished with a secret warmth in her dark gaze as she met Peter's amused gaze. He feigned shock and hurt, placing his hand over his heart. "Oh, you wound me, woman."

Kai and Matt chuckled as the pair bantered with warm familiarity, already use to their hot and cold behavior toward each other. Alex, oblivious to the former relationship but sensing some kind of attraction or connection between the pair, wrapped his arm possessively around Ava. At the action, Peter sombered somewhat, clearly reading the message, 'mine, back off,' from the doctor. Obviously catching the message as well, Matt rose a brow at Peter as if saying, 'don't do anything stupid.' Peter lifted one shoulder as if the gesture answered him. He didn't understand why Alex would feel the need to portray the message or why Matt felt as if he had to confirm that Peter would in fact, 'back off.' He wasn't a fool by no means. He realized there were familiar and old feelings for Ava still laying underneath a world of hurt but surely no one thought him stupid enough to stir up those feeling and chase her around when she so fervently believes she has no interest in him like that and shows no signs of rethinking that belief. And besides he has Megan to fill that void. Right?

"Oh you'll heal. You always did in high school." Ava rebuked with a secret smile that Peter use to think was the sexiest thing on her lips. Still was. Alex looked between the two for a second and rose a brow. "You two went to high school together?"

Ava's brows went near her hairline as she realized her mistake too late because Matt was already opening his mouth. "Oh yeah! The two lovebirds went to high school together, they went to dances together and all the other things puppy-loving teenagers do."

Alex tensed immediately beside her and Peter crossed his arms across from her, his jaw set and his eyes bore a hole in his partner's head for his idiocy. "Hang on, you two dated?" Alex asked, looking directly at Ava. She glanced at Matt accusedly before nodding slowly. "And now you work together?"

This time he looked over at Peter suspiciously as if Peter had planned it. And Ava nodded again. "It's a small world, Alex."

Alex narrowed his eyes at Peter and Peter rose a brow giving him a blank stare. "Hm, small world indeed."

Ava looked pleadingly at her cousin who immediately caught the silent call for help and ushered everyone to the house, calling behind him and the group to the others in his backyard, "Time to eat!"

* * *

><p>When they're all sitting around after eating, gift opening and most of the guests' departure, Kai breaks out his old basketball home videos, grinning as his younger self on the screen steals the ball from the other team and weaved he's way down the court. Peter whoops when the younger version of Kai fakes out a defender and makes a three. "Damn, Kai you had skills."<p>

Matt covers Grace's ears quickly, glaring at his partner. "Language."

Peter apologized and looked a Kai. "I'm serious though. You were good."

"Oh, I know. I set the school record for most three's made in 10 minutes."

"Well, well, well, looks like we have an issue here because so did I." Peter smirked.

"Hang on you played basketball?" Kai asked.

Ava grinned over at the others. "Oh, he did. He kicked a– sorry, butt."

"So what made you choose the number fifty?" Alex asked suddenly.

Kai shook his head. "It wasn't fifty. It was Five-0. It's what my father used to call our family. It was his way of making us feel like we belonged someplace."

Parker looked down. Belonging. He almost laughed at the word. The only place he's felt like he's belonged in, in a long, long time is in the Navy. That is until now. He looks up and at his new team, realizing he feels like he belongs. He knows he shouldn't, he's fought the feeling for awhile, but deep down he knows he fits perfectly with this infuriatingly awesome group of people and before he knows he his lips are moving. "Why not name the team Hawaii Five-0?"

The rest of the team sit back in their seats, slow grins breaking out onto their faces as they all nod. "To Five-0"

They each raise their glasses and after Alex moves closer to Ava, whispering, "So what was that earlier? About what Matt said?"

Ava nearly choked on her drink, clearing her throat nervously. "What? Probably nothing. Matt is a drama queen. Don't worry about it."

* * *

><p>Of course he doesn't let the subject go that easily though.<p>

"Hey," Alex asks as he enters her bathroom later that night.

Ava jumps and looks up from where she's shaving her legs, sitting on the toilet with her legs stretched out on the soft bath rug.

"Dammit, Alex, don't do that! Technically, I'm armed, you know," she tells him as she waves her razor in front of him. "I could have cut myself and that hurts like a bitch. What are you doing here?"

"Why are you shaving your legs at..." He glances at his watch before continuing with the time. "Ten thirty at night?"

"So I don't have to get up earlier tomorrow. More time to sleep," she answers with her 'duh, that's pretty obvious' face aimed at him. "And, you didn't answer me."

Alex shrugs, fixing his cuff links. "The door was unlocked and you didn't answer my calls."

After a moment of him watching her movements, Ava sighs and looks up at him, taking in his usual business suit and frowning face, knowing he wants to say something. "Come on, out with it."

Alex shifts on his feet and crosses his arms. "What's the thing with your boss?"

Ava scoffs, clearly not willing to breach that subject. "Nothing and besides its none of your business."

"If it has to do with you, it is my business," Alex replies back without a moment's hesitation.

Ava becomes silent at that for a good minute before she says something back. "Stop distracting me, I just started. And razor nicks are nothing to joke about."

He waits until she finishes before speaking again. "You don't have to tell me," Alex says, his hands rubbing at the smooth skin of her freshly shaved ankles as they sit in her bathroom floor, noting the way she tenses at the words despite his soft, reassuring touch.

"You don't want to know?" Ava questions in disbelief, and Alex nearly laughs at that. She would never have expected him to give up so easily, and, to be honest, he's surprised at his words too.

"I do want to know," he admits, "but you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. That's fair."

"Thanks," she says, smiling at him with pride as he announces his decision.

"As long as you didn't kiss him or anything. He didn't ask you out, did he?" Alex questions seriously, but Ava just laughs as she tugs his hand, pulling him from the floor as she switches off the bathroom light on their way out of the room.

"Come on. Don't need your suit getting all dirty just for girl talk now do we?" Ava releases his hand, breathing a sigh of relief. That's one subject she's thrilled about not chatting over tea about. She's actually really surprised he dropped it like that. The doctor usually likes to know the why's and how's that came to be, but apparently not this time. Thank God for small miracles. If Ava was being honest with herself after all the avoidance tactics she's used today, well she would totally be in a deep need of good run.

**Please be so kind and drop me a review! Thanks for reading!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Not a long chapter because I split this one and another one up, but hey it still counts. Haha as always thanks for the feedback you guys! I love all of it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

**Runaway Lovers Chapter 10**

* * *

><p><strong>A few months later...<strong>

The team followed the signal of the tracking device that was embedded in the bags for the money in their bank robbery case all the way out to the edge of the pier, all four looking down at the water with frowns. Kai shook his head. "Left over from the oil spill. You sure this is the place cuz?"

Checking the coordinates on her GPS one more time, Ava nodded pointing a little bit off into the dirty water. "Yeah, it stops right over there."

Matt clapped his hands together. "So that begs the question... Who is going in the icky water after the 'smoking gun'?"

Kai held up his hands, grimacing. "Ah, sorry brahs, I forgot to bring my board shorts."

Matt chuckled darkly looking over at Ava with a twisted smirk. "Looks like the rookie gets to go swimming."

Rolling his eyes at his partner's antics, Peter grinned over at Ava. "I'll go with you."

Matt whirled on him losing his amused smirk as he and Ava simultaneously asked, "What?"

Peter answered them, shrugging, "Any excuse for a swim, right?"

"That's, uh, very nice of you." Matt flicked his wrist and smiled knowingly.

Peter rolled his eyes as Kai chuckled and looked down at the dark water, "Good luck in that mess."

"Thanks, brah." Rolling her eyes, Ava slid past her cousin and Matt, loath at being set up to go in the nasty oil polluted waters but oddly relieved that Peter was going with her. Reluctantly she popped her trunk, pulling her shirt over her head to reveal a lavender colored bikini top and slipped out of her jeans presenting the matching bottoms. Peter paused in his trek to their vehicles, his gaze briefly fixated on her wiggling out of the denim and revealing more of her wonderfully tanned skin, but shook himself out of it walking past her.

She pulled out her diving vest and zipped it up and let her goggles hang from her neck, closing her trunk and leaning against her car to wait on her boss. She watched as he retrieved his swimming trunks and stepped between the two vehicles. She averted her eyes to give him privacy as he opened two doors so he was blocked in and changed into them. When he shut the doors and threw his cargo pants into the seat of his Silverado, she returned her gaze to him, watching him strip off the dark blue v-neck, transfixed by the ripple of muscles playing down his chest and abdomen.

"Whoa," she whispered as her gaze trailed up and followed the dark ink that spread across his ripped left pectoral and ran across his shoulder to his back and then switched to his right arm where more dark swirls spanned along the firm muscles. Peter froze midway through threading his arms through the sleeves of his own diving vest as he met her dark gaze.

"What?" Peter was incredulous, smirking at the way her dimples deepened as she bit her lip.

"It's just…you. I'm being silly, just ignore it. It's nothing," she explained yet she blushed ten shades of red.

"Spill it," he prodded, an impish smile lighting up his face.

"You're freaking hot," she muttered under her breath, ducking her head and staring at the ground.

Peter chuckled, ignoring the way his stomach done flips at her admission. "Sorry, I think my hearing's a little…?"

Ava rolled her eyes and swatted playfully at his arm causing his smirk to turn into an adorable lopsided grin. "Your hearing is just fine."

Peter laughed, wrapping his goggles around his neck and falling in step with Ava as they made their way back to the edge of the pier. Matt and Kai grinned as the two peered down at the nasty water.

Peter turned back toward the two. "You guys go ahead and see if the guys at forensics have anything yet. We have this under control here."

"But I rode with you and Kai rode with Ava." Matt replied distractedly, looking down at his phone when it chimed.

Ava nodded tossing her keys to Kai. "Yeah, you guys can take mine. I'll hitch a ride with Parker. Just don't bang it up, brahs."

Kai chuckled catching the keys easily. "With the way you drive, I'm surprised it isn't already, cuz."

Peter and Ava chuckled at that.

Matt rolled his eyes typing slowly on his phone and scoffing at the device. "Damn thing is retarded."

Peter glanced amusedly at Kai and Ava before turning back to his partner. "You know, you can create shortcuts on that thing."

Ava grinned over at them, jumping in on the teasing. "Type a letter and it'll finish the word for you. Just for the words you use a lot."

Matt stopped his pecking and looked at the others with an 'duh' expression. "Well, then, I'd have to seriously consider the words I use a lot."

"That you would." Kai chuckled winking at Peter and Ava.

Peter smiled smugly and Matt narrowed his eyes at him then glanced at the other two suspiciously before staring accusedly at Peter. "This is your fault. You've done this to them."

Peter gaped at him, pointing to his chest. "What? Me? What the hell did I do?"

Matt flicked his hand between the four. "They didn't tease me and act like I didn't know how to function in the modern world until you came around."

Furrowing his brows Peter replied. "You didn't even know them before! I swear you are piece of work."

"Yeah, well, you are just a cocky smartass who thinks it's okay to keep grenades lying around their house and thinks breaking down doors without a warrant is fine and dandy."

Peter scoffed and held up a finger. "That was one time. One time and we had probable cause."

"Probable cause? Probable cause my ass!" Matt leaned forward, hands spreading wide and flying around now.

"It was ruled in court!" Peter replied impatiently.

Ava gave Kai a look that basically screamed 'stop them before it gets worse!' and Kai chuckled. He clapped his hand Matt's shoulder to keep him from leaning any further, nodding apologetically at pedestrians that had slowed to watch the two men. "You two really need to stop arguing soon or people will start thinking you're an old married couple."

Both Matt and Peter stilled, their gazes shooting over to glare at Kai. Ava suddenly laughed aloud at the offended looks on their faces and hid her dimpled smile behind her hand. Peter's piercing gaze was pulled by some unseen force to her at the sound.

"Okay brahs, let's get this over with already." She placed a hand on Peter's arm and directed him to the edge.

* * *

><p>Quickly placing the empty money bags in the bed of his truck and drying his hands off to check his beeping phone, Peter read the text Matt had sent him. "They found video surveillance outside the bank of two guys and two women going in about 3 minutes apart before the alarms went off. Matt thinks the men did it because when they backed out they had the women in front of them for protection. One guy kept his face hidden pretty good but one didn't. They ran the guy through face rec. We got a name and address."<p>

Ava nodded along to the details, replying, "Okay so we could just pick up the guy, ask him a few questions about the other guy, and play like we think he's a witness."

"Yeah, make him rat his partner out without even realizing he's already ratted out himself. Alright, so let's go get cleaned up and then we'll head out and check the guy's place. Maybe he hasn't ran off yet." Pete nodded to Ava, using his towel to wipe at the oily water dripping down his face and bare chest. Ava slowed, her own towel in her hand frozen in place and inches from her face. "Wait... Me and you?"

Peter glanced distractedly up at her as he dried his legs. "Uh, yeah? That a problem?"

Shaking her head, she continued drying herself. "No, no. You just— I mean, we never paired up before so I was just shocked."

At that Peter stood up straight again, wiping the towel through his hair a bit thoughtfully. "Huh, I guess we haven't paired up with each other yet. Well, we can't have that. For the rest of this case, you're with me, got it?"

"Sure, boss. Just don't let Matt get jealous though. We can't have your wifey thinking you're stepping out on him." Ava joked, her dimples deepening at the mock glare she received.

"That's just wrong on so many levels." Peter replied begrudgingly. Ava giggled, nudging him with her shoulder playfully, replying in a singsong manner, "But you didn't deny it."

Peter immediately took off after her as Ava rushed forward laughing at the commander. Peter grinned as he closed in on her and grabbed her by the waist. He immediately attacked her sides, tickling her as much as he could while keeping her from escaping.

Ava gasped as she lost her breath from laughing so hard. She pleaded with Peter after realizing she wouldn't be able to maneuver her way out of his delightfully torturous grip. "Ahhaha! Pete! Plehehease! Okahaay! I ha! Take ihehet bahack!"

Peter laughed at her, continuing his assault on her sides. "I'm sorry, my hearing is really acting up today! What was that?"

"Peheheter! I'm haha sorrhehey!"

Suddenly they hear a harsh clearing of the throat from their right and they turn, surprised to find a certain cardiologist, their laughter ceasing quickly. Ava immediately broke free from Peter's loosened grip taking a step away from him. "Alex, I thought you were at the hospital?"

Alex clenched his jaw, his eyes narrowing but never leaving Peter. "Yeah, Chief sent me home for the day. Said he wanted my million dollar hands to be well rested for our big experimental surgery tomorrow. Thought you were on a case."

Ava glanced at Peter before turning back to Alex. "I— we are."

It was only then that Alex broke his stare with the commander, turning instead to look fervently back at Ava. "You are? Huh, and here I thought you were just cozying up with your mysterious ex," he cleared his throat mockingly, "excuse me, your _boss_."

Peter opened his mouth to take up for Ava but she took a step forward, a fire lighting in her dark gaze. "Where the hell do you get off saying that? Peter and I had to search for a tracking device on money bags from a bank robbery if you must know so yeah we were working on a case. In fact, we still are so enjoy your fucking day off."

Ava started to walk off but Alex stepped up catching her roughly by the arm to stop her. Peter immediately moved forward too, gripping the other man's arm, a rush of unrelenting fury flooding his veins at witnessing the other man's harsh grip. "I advice you to let go of her before I break your 'million dollar' hands."

Alex glared up into Peter's piercing gaze, realizing for the first time that Peter was a few inches taller than him. Ava turned watching as the two men stared hard at each other neither backing down or letting scoffed. Men and their egos.

Rolling her eyes she jerked her arm from Alex's grip stalking back to Peter's truck without looking back.

Peter slowly let go of Alex's arm and watched as the man smoothed down his shirt as if he was wearing a tie like something out of habit. Alex started to push past Peter after Ava but Peter stepped in front of him again. "I'm going to tell you this one time and one time only. If I hear or see that you put your hands on her like that again," He paused shaking his head, "well, let's just say being a SEAL has taught me a few things and I will use those _specific_ skills on you. "

Alex clenched his fists and as Peter turned, wondering why in the hell Ava would be with a guy like that, and started toward his truck, Alex called out to him, "I'd like to see you try, asshole."

Peter halted, tilting his head and exhaling loudly through his nose. _Oh_, that boy really should've just walked away.

Turning and grabbing the doctor by the neck of his shirt, Peter got right in his face all in one motion, his voice so low it nearly sounded like he was growling. "Listen, punk, I might be an asshole sometimes but right now the only asshole around is you. And you being an asshole to one of my teammates is not acceptable to me so _Doctor_ I'm hoping you're smart enough to understand that when I say that I will hurt you if you lay your hands on her like that again I'm not threatening you I'm promising you. But, you see, if I know Ava and I do then I know that you will already be injured in some way or form before I even get a chance to do any damage, not to mention her cousin who is like a brother to her and owns many, many shotguns. So doctor if you think you're bad enough go ahead and tempt me because I won't hesitate."

Alex's eyes widened and he nodded his head. Peter let his shirt go, patting his shoulder roughly. "Nice talk. Good luck with your surgery tomorrow doc." Peter gave him a smirk when he didn't answer and made his way to his truck.

When he slid in, he started the ignition all the while ignoring the dark gaze he could feel to the bottom of his fractured soul that was directed at him.

They sat in silence for a few seconds until finally he turned to her, wordlessly grabbing her arm, looking at the violent red marks that resembled fingers on her tan skin and for the first time noticed other bruises along her arm that were very similar to the one that will no doubt form. Running his thumb over the marks gently, he clenches his jaw when she flinches slightly under his touch. His chests ache at the sight and his vision nearly goes red as he realizes that this isn't the first time that Alex grabbed her like that. He immediately straightens in his seat, having half the mind to go back and pummel the asshole, his hand already reaching for the door handle. She must have seen the rage in his eyes or maybe just from the way he moved because he feels Ava's fingers wrap around his other arm, stopping him at the last minute. "Please."

He takes a deep breath resting his forehead against the steering wheel and shutting his eyes tight, the rage in his chest nearly consuming him fully. _Damn_.

Gritting his teeth, he pushes his rage down letting it simmer in the pit of his stomach and he sat up straight putting the truck in reverse to back out and then started for HQ silently.

When they were nearly halfway back to HQ, Ava finally spoke, so soft Peter almost missed it. "Thanks."

Peter swiftly met her eyes before returning his gaze to the road. He didn't reply immediately, still unsure why Ava was with a man such as Alex.

He knows Ava, knows she isn't gonna let any man, or woman for that matter, push her over or make decisions for her, knows she takes up for herself and others, and knows she is independent, intelligent, and self-assured. During the few times he's seen her and the doctor together, he's noticed that Alex is pretty demanding at times and also acts as if Ava doesn't know anything and needs him to reassure her at all times. Of course, he also noticed Ava's hidden and unhidden frustration with the man, the crease in her brow when he tells her to do something, the verbal rebuke when he tries babying her, so Peter honestly couldn't understand why she was with him. He supposed he could see the appeal for her at times. He knows she's physically attracted to him, that she likes his intellect and that the cardiologist thing attracts her in the sense of he saves lives, but still, they are far too incompatible in Peter's opinion. And if the bastard puts his hands on her like that all the time, he definitely couldn't understand why she would allow it. "You're welcome."

Ava runs her fingers over the side of her seat for a second, turning to look out the window. "I know what you're thinking."

Peter feigned ignorance. "Oh yeah? So you're ready to get cleaned up too?"

Ava stared at him then and he had the decency to give her an apologetic smile. "Sorry... I just— does he grab you like that all the time?"

She looked down, her fingers brushing over those light bruises on her arm. "... He just doesn't know his own strength."

Peter's lips thinned and he shifted his hand over the steering wheel, his anger flaring up again. "So you just let him throw you around like that? Just because you think he doesn't know his strength? Does he fucking hit you?"

"Oh come on, Parker, he doesn't throw me around and no he's never hit me either. He just grabbed my arm to stop me. He is just a little jealous. He thinks because we dated in high school that we can't work together without having platonic fun."

Peter glanced at her wondering how the hell she was trying to justify his actions. He scoffed. "What happened to the real Ava? The one that didn't care who they were she wouldn't be mistreated or she'd dish out what she was dealt? Huh?"

Rolling her eyes, she shook her head. "Stop being a drama queen, Parker."

He slowed, stopping on the side of the road before turning fully to stare at her intently. "I am being serious, Ava. Why are you not doing something about this? What happened to you?"

"Okay, so I could ask you the same. What the hell happened to the _real Pete_r? The one that would rather eat candy and go create the next big thing for some kinda Oscorp experiment instead of eat bananas and make tactical invasions? The one that would never abandon his family and friends for some Coulson or SHIELD thing? The one that would never join the _Navy SEALs_ of all things or hell, get tattoos?"

He got his heart broken by the love of his life and then was the reason some of his close friends were killed, Peter thought grimly before staring hard at Ava. "He grew the fuck up."

Ava looked shocked at his immediate answer. Peter broke their gaze chuckling humorlessly. "But hey if you wanna believe you're justifying his abuse with that 'daddy hits because he loves me' shit then go ahead, but believe me when I tell you that if I see him do that again, I'll kill him."

"Peter." Ava started, but Peter turned back to face the front, pulling the truck back onto the road. When he didn't look at her or respond in any way she sighed turning to looking out her window.

* * *

><p>They don't talk much after that. Nothing but the case their on, maybe a few light hearted jokes here and there but when they're at the guy's home, waiting at the door and hoping for an answer they realize quickly they still need to be a good team together and stop the unprofessional silent treatment.<p>

She's stepping up the stairs to the right of Parker when suddenly she gets the feeling she's being watched and slows her steps, turning her head casually to look out of the corner of her eye. She grabs at Peter's upper arm to stop him from walking any further.

"Wait. Got him."

She's running down the driveway and is two houses away before Peter spots the guy who looks suspiciously like their suspect ahead of her. He'd been hiding behind a parked car to watch them enter the apartment but hadn't properly managed a clean getaway.

"Five-0!" Ava calls out, but he doesn't stop, and she speeds up to tackle him from behind into a neighbor's lawn so she can manage a softer landing than the asphalt road.

"Nice," Peter says, grinning proudly as he comes up next to her, his angry subsiding a little at watching her take down a guy who's two times bigger than her.

But the man's an idiot and is still swinging his arms wildly as if that could help him escape.

"Hey, settle down," Ava tells him sternly as she quickly pats him down and finds no weapons. "We're gonna take you in to ask some questions, got it? Don't make this difficult."

The suspect finally stops trying to push her away, still breathing heavily from the mere one minute chase.

"Yeah, okay, whatever," He mumbles as he meets Ava's eyes and nods.

Ava relaxes her grip to grab her handcuffs and the man takes the opportunity to make a very stupid decision—he reaches up to swing his fist at her. She barely topples even as she tilts her head back and covers her mouth, using her other hand to push him back to the ground easily.

"Hey!" She grimaces when she feels the wetness of blood on her hand. "Ow."

"Hey, jackass," Peter growls as he bends down to speak to the man.

"Don't hit a lady." His fist connects with the man's face without warning and he grabs the cuffs from Ava's hand to put them on their guy with more force than necsesary. He tugs at Ava's hand to pull her to her feet. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she growls as she looks up at Peter, and he winces when he sees her face. "Bad?"

He shakes his head automatically but she stares at him resolutely, waiting for an honest answer. He makes a face and admits, "Sorta."

"You get him. I need tissues," Ava says as she turns and heads for the truck. "And, dammit, I'm supposed to have dinner with Auntie tonight."

When Peter manages to get the guy to the truck, she's got paper towels clamped over nose and he frowns at the sight. He shoves the guy in the back of the truck's cab with a, "You're definitely gonna wish you hadn't done that when you meet her cousin."

He turns after making sure his doors are secure and faces her, wincing again. She smiles slightly but it's hidden behind her hand and the paper towels. He sees it though if only for her dimples and the way her eyes crinkle slightly. He chuckles, coming closer and gently checks the damage, his fingers brushing against hers and her cheeks. After making sure she would be fine, he finally meets her eyes surprised she was already watching him.

They stare at each other for a few seconds, before Peter gives her a small smile.

"I'm sorry." They say it at the same time and immediately look at each other in surprise before chuckling.

Peter shakes his head. "What a pair, right?"

Ava nods her response more nasally than her normal voice. "That we are. Are we good?"

Peter chuckles, pulling her to him for a side hug, his chin briefly touching the top of her head. "Yeah, we're good. Just don't let him do that to you, okay."

He feels more than sees her nod and for a moment he wishes he could hold in his arms her like he use to but he brushes the thought away releasing her and gesturing to the truck.

* * *

><p>By the end of the night, they had effectively closed the case with enough evidence to put their perps away for a good long time. After hearing Ava and Matt say for the millionth time that they were starving, the team had decided to go out and eat.<p>

Peter was the first to arrive getting a table big enough for all of them. He was staring at the menu when he felt someone's presence at the table and figuring it was one of his teammates he continued looking at his menu. After some time, Peter began to get an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach and he looked up, surprised to find not one of his teammates but a smug looking man. Glancing around suspiciously before settling his gaze on the strange man seated across from him, Peter rose a brow. "Uh, do I know you?"

The man's lips twitched up in a small smile that twisted Peter's stomach in knots. This isn't good. His right hand inched toward his thigh, remembering he never took his gun and holster off.

The man tilted his head slightly, his gaze wide and if Peter's being honest, creepy as hell. His eyes were nearly black, and they were full of sinful humor. "I'm sure you've heard about me from certain friends."

From his cryptic accented response, Peter furrowed his brows, his mind running a mile a minute, trying to grasp what the hell was happening. "Listen, I don't know if you're pulling a prank or was dared to do this but whoever you are, you don't know me, so I'll give you ten seconds to get up and leave and there won't be any problems."

The German's smile grew in the tiniest bit, and Parker had never felt so weirded out in all his life. "I know you, Commander."

Startled, Parker's gaze flickered around the room for any threats, his guard up and ready for battle. "Who are you?"

"I'm sure you're smart enough to figure that out. Especially since SHIELD has ruined the fun and informed you of my little secret." He smirked this time, his eyes never leaving Peter's.

Parker slowly met his wickedly amused gaze as he figured it out. "Welker?"

The German inclined his head. "Very good, Commander. I always knew you had a brain somewhere up there."

Peter's gaze flooded with red as he realized the man that was behind the killing of his friends and parents was sitting right across from him. "What makes you think I won't kill you right here in this restaurant?"

"The man who strikes first admits that his ideas have given out. Old German proverb." The man said smugly.

Parker leaned forward his hand gripping his gun. "Say hello to my little friend. Old American proverb." His thumb pushed the safety off and cocked the pistol.

Out of the corner of his eye Peter seen a few men move toward their table, but the German flicked his hand and the men sat down just as fast as they stood. "Now, now, Commander, we don't want anyone getting their hands dirty at the dinner table, do we?"

Peter nearly snarled at the man. "What the hell do you want from me? I didn't do a damn thing to you."

"No, I don't suppose you did and a part of me apologizes for that, but the bigger part of me, the one that drives me, can't stop." Welker paused, "You know we're one in the same as far as that goes."

Peter narrowed his eyes, scoffing in disgust. "I am nothing like you."

Welker's smile seemed to fade as confusion flashed across his face. "Oh, but Commander, you are. Don't you see? Those instincts you rely on everyday, those morals and ethics that you fight for everyday and of course that one connection you can't seem to sever no matter how hard you try are the things that drive you, what you can't stop doing. The only differences between us is I embrace the craving and the need and I become empowered by it and you, well, you fight it with every ounce of your strength."

Peter furrowed his brows becoming increasingly confused and infuriated. "What the hell are you talking about?"

The German man suddenly leaned forward. "After years of observing you, surely you don't think I am stupid enough not to know who you kept close to your heart and who you don't, even with the changes you were forced to make. You think I don't know you still care for that poor little orphan you saved in Kabul during your mission, for that family you cared for in the village on the outskirts of Toamasina, for those you left behind in New York and of course for the one that left you behind." The man's gaze finally left Parker for a split second, moving to look out the restaurant's window. "I still have the upper hand in our little game, Commander."

Peter followed his gaze, seeing the one person he could never not care about standing across the street with her cellphone pressed to her ear and waiting on the walk light to change. There was a bald man in dark clothing standing just behind her staring directly into the restaurant and Peter just knew he was with Welker. He was right. He had the upper hand. Welker was obviously a man with a plan. There's no guarantee on what he told his men before they came here. He could have told them if Peter were to kill him for the bald guy to kill Ava and Peter wasn't willing to make that sacrifice. He slowly took his forefinger off the trigger, his thumb clicking the safety back on.

He watched as the German smirked back. "Wise decision, Commander," he paused standing and causing Peter to react on instinct and stand too. The men moved again but Welker called them off for the second time. "Don't worry. I'm sure we'll see each other again; in fact, I'm certain of it. Now Commander, you shouldn't sleep at the table."

Parker furrowed his brows in confusion and before he could open his mouth to question the German, he felt a small prick in his neck. His fingers suddenly numb, came up to feel. He pluck the item out of his throat and dizzily looked down at the tranquilizer dart. His vision swirled and he felt his legs give out as Welker stepped forward to slid him back onto his chair. Peter numbly tried to push the man away, but his head was spinning and he could barely lift his head to look at Welker much less his arms. Welker kept his hands on Peter's arm to keep him steady and crouched next to him. "I look forward to our next meeting, Commander."

And with that, Peter felt Welker's hands and presence leave him and Peter swayed in his chair, everything slowing and blurring. Peter felt his eyelids grow heavy and he tried to fight it to make sure the bastard didn't get to Ava but somehow he found his head laying on the table and oh he was so sleepy. Then his eyelids fluttered close and darkness took over.

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><p><strong>Please leave a review for me! I read them all!<strong>


	11. Chapter 11

**Well, I'm back! Hope you guys like it! Don't know when I'll be able to update again, but with my track record I'm sure none you expect it anytime soon... yeah, um, sorry about that.. hehe... Okay! Anyways, please don't forget to review! I really love any feedback on this! **

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything. Just having fun.**

**Chapter 11**

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><p>Peter groaned softly, fighting the stuffy darkness in his mind and swallowing against the dryness in his throat. He felt firm hands lean his body back and soft feminine hands turn his head, caressing both of his cheeks. The soft lull of a worried voice slowly brought him to the surface. "Pete? Peter?"<p>

Peter slowly opened his heavy lids, blinking against the light. His gaze first met Ava's dark worried eyes in front of him. He realized the hands on his face were hers and immediately his own hands came up to cup hers.

"Ava," he breathed in relief, letting his gaze travel over her in search of any injuries, pleased at finding none. Her lips twitched up in a small smile as she dropped her head for a second before meeting his gaze again. "Thank God. What happened here, boss?" She asked softly.

It was then that he realized that Kai was standing to the right of him and Matt was off to the side, yelling on the phone very adamantly. He glanced at them before returning his gaze to the woman before him. He almost laughed at the irony. She was nearly killed because of him without even knowing it and now she was worried about him.

He needed help. He needed to call Coulson right then. "It's nothing. I just fell asleep that's all."

Ava frowned looking back at Kai. Peter watched the two as they spoke without words used between them, before Ava turned back to him. "Parker, you've been out for about 15 minutes. We've tried everything to wake you up. You're not that dead of a sleeper; in fact, if I remember correctly you wake up at the slightest noise. Now what happened?"

Peter scoffed, pulling her hands away and searching his pockets for his phone.

"Nothing. I just have to call someone," he furrowed his brows looking around in search for the device. "Have you guys seen it?"

Ava nodded, a frown set on her lips for she knew he wasn't telling her something and she gestured to the blonde. "Matt has it. Coulson called your phone when we got here. Matt thinks he has something to do with whatever happened to you."

Peter stood, however his legs weren't yet at full working capacity and he stumbled forward. Ava and Kai were immediately at his side, hands on his arms to steady him. His shoe knocked an object out from under the table and all three of them looked down at the object and after making sure Peter wouldn't fall over, Kai bent to pick it up. Peter squeezed his eyes closed. _Shit_.

Ava stared at the tranq dart lying idle in Kai's hand before raising a brow at Peter. "Just fell asleep, huh?"

Peter winced, having the decency to smile apologetically. Shaking her head, Ava continued to stare at Peter expectantly. Kai turned the dart this way and that. "You know who done it, brah?"

Peter's lips thinned. He didn't wanna lie, but damn he can't tell them the truth. Not now, maybe not ever. Ava noticed his reluctance and narrowed her eyes glancing between the blonde detective on the phone and the commander that still swayed slightly under her hands. "Parker, _does_ this have something to do with Coulson?"

Setting his jaw, Peter forced his legs to steady under his weight and he shrugged off Ava's hands and crossed his arms. "It's, uh, classified."

Ava opened her mouth to question him, a fire fueling in her dark gaze at his stubbornness to refuse help, before she snapped it shut, clenching her jaw so tight Peter thought she might break her teeth.

Kai watched the two have a stare down in front of him, immediately shaking his head at their stubbornness. He didn't understand the two at all. At one second their the best of friends laughing at secret jokes or ganging up on Matt, he's even witnessed the two secretly checking out the other when they thought no one was watching but then the next second it's like they do a 180 and they fight like cats and dogs, granted that they mostly just shout a few choice words before one says something that cuts deep for the other and then they don't speak to each other until they both finally apologize for whatever harsh words were thrown in the fire. As much as he hates the idea of Ava being in a relationship with someone because, hello, she's his baby cousin, Kai thinks that they should just get it over with and get back together already, but he knows the two will barely admit their feelings to even theirselves, summing it up to nothing but physical attraction, much less to anyone else.

Don't get him wrong he likes Alex... when he's not anywhere near his baby cousin of course. Kai isn't stupid. He knows the doctor has some issues, mainly his possessive nature and his quick temper, knows that Ava, for some odd reason, stays with him and actually defends him. Hell, once Kai figured out the doctor bruised his baby cousin, he had grabbed his keys to his Harley with every intention on finding him and giving the man a lesson he'd definitely remember, but Ava had stopped him, practically begged for him to leave Alex alone. So forgive him if he thinks Ava should drop the act and be with the man she really loves.

Same goes for Peter if he's being honest. Though he hasn't met Megan, he can't deny that Peter still obviously cares for her for he's caught the tail end of their calls and he sees the way he relaxes a little when he talks to her, but Kai can also see the way he tenses when the subject of her meeting the team comes up and the way he looks at Ava as if he's waiting, _hoping_, for her to tell him that she wants to be the one he waits for, that he calls every chance they get just to say hey.

The older Hawaiian looks at Ava, really looks at her for a second and he thinks she probably does want that, deep down she wants to be Peter's again and vice versa. And suddenly he's back at Banzai Pipeline with a 19 year old Ava. She had just won her first surfing competition and her and her friends had went out to celebrate when Kai got a call from her closest wahine...

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><p><em>"Kelly here." He answered, rubbing his sleep-filled eyes before glancing at his clock. 2AM. Who the hell was calling at 2AM?<em>

_There was a brief silence on the line before he hears Ava's best friend, Maarika, through a bunch of rustling. "Uh, hey, Kai? Listen I don't wanna be any trouble but something's up with Ava."_

_Kai immediately sits up, his previously sleep fogged mind suddenly working full swing, worrying over the cousin he loves like a sister. "What's happened?"_

_"Uh, well, we went out for some... celebratory drinks... She kinda got a little wasted... I tried to tell her to slow down, brah, but she wouldn't listen and then her and Ben went... for a walk but when he came back he told me she was just laying on the beach, refusing to say anything or move. I went out to check on her and she was doing exactly that. I don't know what's wrong with her, brah. I mean, she caught the sickest pipe today, __kama'aina__! She'd usually be stoked!"_

_Getting up to pull some clothes on, Kai sighed into the phone. "Just stay with her until I get there, yeah?"_

_"Wouldn't leave my sista like this anyways brah. You coming from Honolulu or you stopped somewhere for the night?"_

_"Coming from home, Maarika," He paused as he threw a leg over his bike. "I'd go around the world for my baby cousin, you know?"_

_He heard the younger girl chuckle before her silvery voice croaked back, "I know, why do you think I called you, Kai?"_

_"Alright, I'll be there in a about an hour. Please keep her safe wahine." He didn't wait for her reply, ending the call and gunning his bike in the direction of Banzai Pipeline._

_Later..._

_God, she was totally wasted. She wanted to laugh at the irony. She had _wanted_ to get wasted, not to celebrate though because honestly, she likes to celebrate at least half-sober. And if she was being honest then she might as well admit to herself why she really wanted to get wasted. _

_It's _that_ day. Their _anniversary_. God, did she miss him... She spent the whole day telling herself to forget about it... and she did, at least enough to win her surf competition. _

_Then, Maarika and Ben had suggested a celebration. She didn't want to be rude and Ben had been so sweet, supporting her and holding her hand with his cute little innocent smile firmly in place so she had agreed, thinking that at least she could get wasted and forget about the fact that when 12AM rolled around it'd be their anniversary. A whole day that symbolized the beginning of the relationship between her and Peter_ fucking_ Parker and God did she_ not _want to remember. _

_So there it is, why she wanted to get wasted. To forget, but_ damn_ that plan hadn't work even the slightest. Well it had at first. She had danced her heart out between shots and when Ben had so sweetly suggested for a walk on the beach she had readily agreed, her alcohol-induced mind thinking he looked good enough to eat. But once out there under the stars, listening to the gentle waves__ softly crash against the rocky beach, their curling fingers brushing each stone with a gentle caress as the wind ushered them gently towards the shore__ as Ben held her close, her memories came crashing back and she barely acknowledged him when she pulled away and laid on the sand._

_Memories she wanted to cherish forever but hated because of the ache in her chest when they surfaced. Sometimes she just wants to hear his voice again, feel his arms wrap around her at night when one of them snuck into the others room after long hours of fighting the villians of the cruel world. And at that moment, looking up at the night sky and lying on the beach near her beloved ocean with her best friend next to her, she felt that ache and wished to relieve that ache like never before. _

_She closed her eyes and immediately opened them once more because of the image of piercing blue eyes and a lopsided grin flashing behind her lids. Damn, got drunk to forget, but only able to remember so fucking vividly. __So yes, she almost laughed at the irony, but instead she shot up, turning quickly as she vomited onto the grainy sand. __Groaning weakly, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand._

_"I leave you alone with your friends for just 4 hours and then get a call. Well, I guess it's better than getting a call from the jailhouse though." Ava and Maarika look up at his modulated voice, both smiling sheepishly as their greetings. Kai lowered himself beside Ava, giving Maarika a smile of thanks when she stood, making her way up the shore after giving Ava a small hug. _

_Kai looked at Ava and frowned at the way she was avoiding his gaze. "Cuz? What's going on?"_

_She didn't answer immediately, just simply watched the tides as if they would erase all her sorrows and heartaches, but eventually she rested her cheek on her bended knees to face Kai. "Do you know how it feels to let go of someone you're really and truly in love with, just for them to be happy? To let go so you won't be a burden to them? So they can live life without being held back?"_

_Kai searched her face once she finished her slurred line of questions, seeing her dark gaze brimmed with unshed tears blinking blurrily back at him. He thought for a moment, his mind drifting to Kate, before answering her. "I don't, but I do know what it's like to be in love. I think if I ever have to let her go it'll have to be for a good damn reason."_

_She shakes her head at that a wry chuckle hung in her throat as those unshed tears get caught in her thick lashes. "Kai, I love him so much it hurts every time I think about him."_

_Furrowing his brows, Kai leans closer, his fingers wrapping around hers. He wasn't sure who 'he' was but the way his baby cousin looked at him urged him to think of something, _anything_, to somehow ease her obvious pain. "When you have loved someone deeply, the feeling doesn't usually go away just because you've broken up... It lingers and it can take a while before you feel like you don't need that person's presence anymore."_

_Ava groans, turning her face into her bended knees, her voice coming out muffled and weary. "That's the problem cuz. I don't want it to. I want him, and I want him to know that I do love him," she's interrupted by her own hiccup before she continues. "I want him to know I lied... God, Kai, I fucked it up."_

_Kai grimaced, pulling her to him and letting her head rest on his shoulder. "Hey, come here... Listen, people make mistakes, even you Water Woman, but it's not about how you make the mistake. It's about how you correct them. Tell him how you feel and maybe, just maybe, he will feel the same."  
><em>

_Ava stayed silent, long enough for Kai to assume she had fallen asleep, but after a while he heard her just as her lids fluttered closed breathe out, "I can't."_

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><p>Now at the time Kai thought it was possibly Ben she had been speaking about, but after working with them for months and witnessing the way they interacted with each other, Kai knew for a fact she had been talking about Parker. He had never asked her why she thought she couldn't, didn't think she even remembered that night much less what was said. Shaking away the thoughts, Kai holds the dart out for Peter and the commander barely registers the action until Kai nudges his arm.<p>

Tearing his eyes away from Ava's, Peter picks the dart up and suddenly he realizes that his spider senses never went off. At the realization he furrows his brows, confusion seeping in even further. What the hell? How did Welker manage that? Blinking, Parker snapped his head up. He needed answers. Fast.

He moved past the two Hawaiians with steadier legs, stalking up to the dramatic blonde whose hands were flailing everywhere and Peter quickly plucked the phone from the detective's hands and placed it up to his ear, widely ignoring his partner who quickly turned his frustration toward Peter. The commander continued past the blonde stalking outside quickly. "Coulson, Welker showed up."

"Thank God someone got that motor-mouth off the phone." Coulson muttered, before there was shuffling on the his end of the line. "I know I was just informed that he made it on and off the island. Did he make contact?"

Exhaling loudly, Peter ran a hand down his face. "Yeah, yeah, he definitely made contact. He sat right across the damn table from me. I could've killed the bastard, Phil. I could've ended it."

"I'm sensing a but here..." Coulson frowned at the thought of the vile man sitting across from Parker.

Peter pressed the pads of his fingers to his eyes. "But... But Ava."

There was silence on the other end of the line and Parker sighed. "Listen it's— I know that I said I wasn't here for that and I wasn't— I'm not but it's, God, Coulson it's not that simple. I still care for her. I care for the rest of the team and everyone else too. I can't just shut my emotions off. I've tried and it's still not enough. Welker threatened her life if I pulled the trigger. I couldn't Phil. I couldn't risk her life just to make mine simpler."

Phil's heart ached for the young man's troubles and he knew what had to be said. "I know, kid. I know, but you have to understand that until Welker is dead and until we catch Victor, everyone in your life is endangered. You have to keep the distance there."

"It doesn't matter to him, Phil. He flat out told me he knows who I care about no matter what I've done to prevent it."

Peter heard Coulson sigh and imagined the man running a hand over his tired face. "Listen Parker, I've got my best working on this, including Keith and his team, but he's always 1 step ahead of us, making himself a 10 second window to disappear before we can pinpoint his location. I hate that you have to go through this mess, but I can only do so much."

Running a hand through his dark hair, Peter nodded. "I know, Coulson. Listen there's one more thing. One of his men hit me with a tranq dart. I didn't sense it, Coulson. No tingle. None. Zip."

Phil furrowed his brows on the other end of the line. "What? Really?"

When Peter confirmed, Coulson was shocked that they were able to hit the former superhero without alerting his spidey senses. "Wow, I'll have to look into that. See if somehow there's a way to avert being detected by your senses, but listen in the meantime keep your wife on a leash. Very nosy little detective."

Rolling his eyes, Peter grunted, "Don't know about the leash thing. A muzzle might be better."

He heard his mentor laugh heartily even despite how awful the call was. "Alright kid, I'll keep in touch."

"Same." Peter muttered before ending the call and sliding it in his pocket. Then he looked down at the dart in his hand, wondering just how they were able to get it past his spidey senses. He sighed and turned to face the music with his team.


	12. Chapter 12: An Abundance of Assholes

**Well guys I gotta say I am just plain awful at updating and I'm really grateful for the ones, if any, who have stayed with me and hope you will continue to read despite my lack of ability to update regularly... This chapter is short and kinda a filler but I figured it was better than nothing... Anyways as always, thanks for the reviews, favs, and follows! I appreciate every last one and please keep them coming!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 12<strong>

Sighing, Peter begrudgingly goes back into the restaurant steeling himself for the onslaught of lectures and questions that he is certain his team has for him. He finds what he expects, for the most part anyways. Matt immediately bombards him with millions of questions as soon as he's within shouting distance. The blonde quite adamantly demands answers but Peter knows just how to avoid them when it comes to the short detective. Now Ava on the other hand he doesn't think he'll have much luck with and he wants to hug her older cousin for telling her to go wait in his car after she snaps at him, saying, "Quit pussyfooting around Parker and tell us what happened."

He's left speechless because he hasn't seen her that pissed at him in a long time and when Kai does manage to get her to go to the car, he's left dealing with his over dramatic partner and the ever too calm for comfort Kai.

He knows they're all worried about him but he just wishes they would drop it so he can stop all the lying but days pass before he's able to get them past the subject and it takes even longer to get Ava to actually participate in the usually easy bantering between them and when she finally does make a witty comment on his reporting skills on his paperwork that she sneaks a glance at, he's so relieved he forgets to make a snarky comeback.

It starts to look as if they're on their way back to their normal, or at least their kind of normal, dynamics until they're all standing at the smart table going through a list of financial background on the main suspect of their latest case and his phone rings from the spot he left it at on the smart table. The noise interrupts Ava's very thorough analysis of their findings and they all stop to stare at him until he realizes it's his and all their gazes shift to the device next to him, focusing on the number dubbed as unknown that showed on the caller I.D. He swallows harshly because he knows exactly who is on the other end of that call and he knows that his team does too if the sudden furious looks from Matt and Ava are any indication. He straightens and clears his throat as he scoops up the device and turns toward his office. "I'll be right back."

Once he's shut the door to his office behind him, he curses the fact that their offices are made of glass walls and slides a finger across the screen, attempting to ignore the three sets of eyes he feels on his back. "Yeah?"

"Parker sorry it took so long getting back to you. I had some business to take care of in Washington but I finally got ahold of Dr. Conners." Coulson's smooth voice flows through the speaker.

"It's fine. What did he say? I attempted to run some tests on the dart myself at the crime lab before sending it over. I thought it might have been disguised in gas like Goblin had done that one time but I came up with nothing."

"That's because there isn't anything wrong with the dart."

"I'm not following." Parker replies, his brows furrowing in confusion. If nothing was wrong with the dart then what could it have been?

"I got Skye— sorry, _Daisy_— to send footage from the security cams to Dr. Conners so he could evaluate your status along with the dart. After extensive tests, he believes that you were just greatly distracted by the fact that he threatened Ava's life and given your history I think it's safe to say that's a huge possibility we didn't think about at the time."

For a short pause, Peter mulls over this possibility. It could've very well have been that now that he thinks about it. He has had cases in which his spidey senses wouldn't alert him to any danger because he was distracted with something or someone incredibly important to him. It's happened with his Aunt May and MJ countless of times before, and even though he was always worried for Ava back when they were Spider-Man and White Tiger he also knew she was capable of handling herself and whatever situation she was thrown into. "Damn. How did I not think of that?"

Phil chuckles quietly on the other end of the line. "Neither of us did Parker. We were both thrown off guard from Welker's surprise visit, but hey, I spoke with Keith the other day. His team is closing in on the twisted son of a bitch. Maybe it'll all be over soon."

Sighing, Peter glances out of his office, his gaze scanning the faces of his team before settling on Ava. "Maybe... Thanks, Phil. Tell FitzSimmons hey for me. I gotta go."

"Alright I will. I'll keep in touch." With that Peter ended the call, his gaze still locked on Ava's dark irises. When he steps out of his office and gives her the go ahead to continue with her analysis, they still stare at him all keeping silent until he steps forward and starts running his fingers along the touch-screen with ease and brings up other data on their suspect. As soon as he dives into the information he wants to sigh in relief because he can practically feel the atmosphere switch back to professionalism.

That is until after he and Matt are in the Camaro to go pick up their suspect and Matt thumps him in the back of the head. "You're an asshole. I hope you know that."

Peter grumbles under his breath before turning in the direction of their perp's home. Yes, he very well knows he's an asshole, but he's just trying to protect them. He wants to laugh because suddenly he imagines Matt actually _thanking_ him for being the asshole that saves his life from a pychomaniac but then he realizes that probably wouldn't happen because Matt would just point out that Peter was the asshole that endangered him in the first place so he ends up simply frowning back at the blonde. Why do things have to be so outrageously complicated?

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><p>She's fucking <em>furious<em>.

In fact she's so fucking furious that she can't speak to the infuriating commander without wanting to rip him a new one, can hardly even look at him for days. She's not normally a nosy person but she knows somethings up with Parker and Coulson and she wants to know what. It doesn't help that he lies to them right through his fucking pretty white teeth every time the subject of who hit him with a tranq dart comes up.

He's always been such a terrible liar and one day when he quite horribly tells them a tall-tale she snorts because it momentarily takes her back to one night when his Aunt May had came home late and he and Ava were nearly caught sleeping in the same bed together, which was a strict rule that May Parker enforced against the second she found out they were finally dating. And yes _sleeping,_ not doing the deed, they were too tired that night to do anything but fall asleep together.

His aunt decided to do a late night check for laundry and when they heard the floor creak outside his door both being light sleepers Ava made a break for his closet and Peter shut the door for her as soon as his aunt opened the door to his room. When she had seen him up next to his closet with nothing but his boxers on in the dark she was shocked to say the least. Ava remembers the... unique conversation that had happened that night and how horrible Peter's mumbled excuses were for being up so late stating he had just finished picking out his clothes for school the next morning.

When May had asked him when he started doing that he had panicked and said Sam of all people was rubbing off on him. May had only 'mhmed' him and Ava buried her face in her hands when the older woman had said, "I think it's a certain young lady who is the one rubbing off on you, don't you agree Ava?"

They had gotten in so much trouble that night and when word got out to the guys Sam himself even told Peter his lie was stupid and no where near believable. Now, there were more important things at stake here than simply getting caught sleeping in the same bed together, namely a certain Commander's life because who would shoot him with a tranq dart and why would he lie about it if there wasn't threats being made?

So the day she was making her analysis on their suspect to the team and his phone rang, she knew it was Coulson just from the way the atmosphere shifted and they were all on edge staring at his phone like it was a spawn of the devil. If she wasn't so pissed she might have laughed at the mixture of guilt and deer-in-the-headlights kind of expression that crossed Peter's face, his guilt-ridden eyes comical as they snapped up to meet hers across the smart table as he picked it up and mumbled something before disappearing to his office.

She watches him through the glass, not even caring that the others were too. He's too stiff and too quiet for her liking and when she sees his brows furrow in confusion and his eyes shoot up to meet hers for a long period of time, she's suddenly on edge and realizes that whatever it is between him and Coulson has something to do with her and she's instantly furious again.

When he steps out and tells her to continue her analysis all she can do is stare at him because how _dare_ he think she's going to ignore that!

He promptly ignores the staring and makes a few motions over the smart table and starts in with his own briefing. She's still furious when he and Matt leave to pick up their guy to bring him back for questioning, and she really wants to tell him he's an asshole.

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><p>Later, when she's still very, <em>very<em> pissed at him but has to keep the professionalism up and he's all intense and snarky again they stand in the interrogation room in front of the guy he and Matt picked up. Usually Peter is more reluctant to let her work there, from obvious and well ignored reasons. But Matt and Kai couldn't get the guy to talk, and she's there with him and he knows she can make anyone do anything she wants if she sets her stubborn mind to it, so he decides to make this one slide.

It's not a bad idea. She works the room beautifully. At least he certainly thinks it's beautiful. Especially when she does that cute little trick, throwing the hula skirt the man had been wearing earlier at the guy's face. He tries to keep his face neutral when that cute girl becomes quite intimidating, and the guy flinches under her stare.

She breaks him so easily after that, and he joins in, as they work him together. The guy not only talking at the end of it, he practically can't shut up. When he gives them a full-on confession, they smile triumphantly at each other. It's basically done and despite being absolutely infuriated with the commander, Ava can't help the way her heart lurches at the smug smile that graces his handsome face and definitely can't help her body's reaction either. When they all meet back up at the smart table and tell the other two what they got from the man, Matt can't hold his tongue one bit. "So how'd you get him to talk? You two interrogate people on dates so you get better at it, or something?"

He barely dodges the pen that flies toward his head and he watches Ava stalk away in a not so calm manner. When Matt turns to the other two innocently and finds Peter in his usual wide stance with arms crossed and aneurism face in full swing and Kai simply staring at him with that unreal calm serenity about him, he holds up his hands in surrender. "Was it something I said?"

Peter sighs something that suspiciously sounds like 'idiot' and turns toward his office to start his paperwork. Kai gives Matt a small smile and a pat on the shoulder before doing the same as their Commander.

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><p>Ava doesn't know why but after Matt's asshole—she thinks there must be a theme today— comment she finds herself driving to Alex's loftapartment.

She doesn't even knock, pulling the spare key from his hideaway spot and entering like she owned the place. As she walks down the short hallway and follows the sounds of his television, she wants to get rid of all these pent up emotions toward her boss that cause her skin to ache in an all too familiar way even for the slightest moment and she thinks surely a couple of rounds with a good-looking cardiologist can give her that relief. So when she walks toward him she doesn't even answer his question of why she was there instead she straddled his sprawled out figure on his couch.

When her lips meet his, she wants to cry because she sees blue eyes behind her lids and she hears and feels Alex's muffled chuckle against her lips but she can't stop thinking about _him_.

It's driving her mad so she pushes harder into Alex and when he finally, _finally_, starts to take over and rips her shirt off to place a magnitude of feverish kisses down her neck and body, she feels somewhat better, the images of blue eyes and smug smiles start to disappear and she sighs in relief as Peter drifts in and out of her mind until suddenly she realizes nothing was happening.

Alex's lips were frozen right above her pulse-point, in fact all of him seems to be frozen and when she leans back to check on him, she sees that there's unrestrained fury in his dark brown eyes and she furrows her brows. "What's wrong?"

He doesn't move, doesn't even blink and Ava shudders from his harsh glare. When she attempts to move further away, she suddenly finds herself on the floor and she scowls at the unexpected descent.

She looks up at Alex as he stands and stalks to his room, only to return seconds later with a pair of jeans on, and all Ava's able to do is watch with a completely dumbfounded expression. Once he starts toward the door and she can hear keys jingle she snaps out of her stupor, jumping to her feet, and races to catch up with her boyfriend.

She stops him right before he opens the door. "Where the hell are you going?"

He doesn't turn or make any indication that he heard her except for tightening his grip on the door handle. "I'm going to kill a certain commander."

What the fuck is up with this guy? She raises a brow at him. "What are you talking about Ale—"

"NOW YOU KNOW MY NAME HUH?!" He yells so suddenly and harshly that it makes Ava flinch. She nearly repeats her initial question when suddenly it hits her.

She didn't just sigh earlier. No, she had said _his name_. Oh fuck.

She snaps her head back around when she hears the door slam and her heart sinks because oh _double fuck_ there was definitely a theme today and it seems she was not exempt from being an asshole.

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><p><strong>Yikes! Lol... Please don't forget to R&amp;R! <strong>

**Love ya's- CFG **


	13. Chapter 13: Lovely Paradise

**CFG back with a new chapter! Warning: there's a lot more mentionings of the _s word_(come on, don't make me spell it out... ugh fine *stage whispers* S-E-X. Happy now? OK good!) in this one. Consider yourself warned now! Haha anyways as always thanks for your feedback, love it, and love you! Hope you guys like it! Please keep the reviews, favs, and follows coming!**

**Disclaimer: Me own zippidy zap... aka I own nothing.**

**Oh yeah! Just in case you need to/don't know: **

**A.J. Squared Away- navy slang for a sailor who is always having perfect shave, perfectly ironed uniform, etc.**

**Hot Dog- navy slang for a s word(hehe) active male sailor**

**Bun- navy slang for a s word(it may be slightly annoying/childish but its funny) active female sailor**

**^^^^ This info is courtesy of Wikipedia... aka sorry if its not accurate**

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><p>Peter sighs heavily before signing another paper with his sloppy signature. It hasn't even been twenty minutes since they met back at the smart table before Ava angrily stomped off to God knows where and Peter's been filling out his own paperwork and some of hers too because, well, because he feels damn guilty and wants to somehow make up for all the lying he's having to do. He's about to sign off on another one when his phone buzzes on his desk. When he picks it up and checks the caller I.D., he feels a smirk tug at the corners of his lips as he slides his thumb across the screen and places the device up to his ear. "Commander Parker."<p>

"What? No 'hiya sailor! How've you been?'" A sweet almost honey-like voice reaches his ears and Peter chuckles.

"Howzit sailor?" He asks purposely, almost too innocently.

There's a song-like giggle from the other line and he hears a bit of rustling. "I'm doing great. How about yourself?"

He pauses glancing down at the stacks of paperwork left before capping his pen and sitting back in his chair as he contemplates his answer. "I'm great now that I've heard the voice of an angel." He rolls his own eyes at his overused and cliche reply and imagines what Ava would do to him if he said that to her—probably hit him—but smirks when he gets a laugh in return. "Are you on leave?"

"No just got a long weekend."

"Right. Where are you?" He mumbles twisting his pen around and around his quick fingers.

"Cali. What about you? I really didn't expect you to answer. On leave?"

_Damn_. Peter rubs the back of his neck nervously before scratching his chin. "Uh, actually I transferred to the reserves. I'm running an elite task force now."

There's a short pause, one that makes Peter antsy and shift in his chair. "Meg?"

"Um, wow... That's— I mean I'm speechless. Where? How long?"

"Hawaii. A few months." He answers.

"Whew! And here I thought you'd say since the last time we met up. So glad we've made progress." She replies sarcastically and Peter clears his throat when he hears her chuckle again. "I'm joking Peter. So what kind of task force are we talking about? 7 man team? 10 man team?"

"Try 4, including myself." He answers proudly because hello there's only four of them and they still kick ass and make more arrests than other task forces.

"Really? Damn, that's quite impressive sailor. What's the codename for it?"

"Five-O."

"Oh, how original. Did you come up with that yourself or did you actually allow your team to be apart of the decision?" She remarks smartly, knowing just how far the man's control issues can go.

"Hardy-har-har. We came up with it together. We're a pretty tight group."

"Oh really now? Tell me more about your fellow men."

Peter smirks at her curious tone knowing she was earnestly interested in what he's been up to and starts to think over how to describe his co-workers. "Well, there's our overdramatic worry wart of a detective Matthew. He has a kid who is fantastic. I mean she is absolutely without a doubt the best kid I've ever met. Then there's Kai. He's kind of our peacemaker... Most of the time anyways. He's got a wedding coming up sometime soon. Then there's the stubborn impulsive one of the group —"

"Oh honey you don't have to list yourself I already know what you're like." She interrupts laughingly, her short snort cutting him off without a regret.

Peter rolls his eyes good-naturedly. "Ava Ayala. She use to be a professional surfer. She's a pretty good sharpshooter from what I've seen on paper, but I haven't had the chance to put her up to the test yet. She went to my high school so I know she's not one to fail any type of test. Sh—"

"You two went to high school together? That's interesting. At least you know her. I mean were you guys friends back in high school?"

Peter swallows harshly, running a hand through his short hair before picking up the pen and playing with it again. "Uh, yeah, we kind of dated in high school so I mean, yeah, we were definitely friends."

There's another silent moment over the line that makes Peter shift in his seat. "You dated her? Wow, okay. Um, were you guys serious? I mean, how long did you date?"

God, he does not want to be having this conversation right now! How does he tell the girl that he's "seeing"—bleh he hates the term—that he had been head over heels in love with the gorgeous Hawaiian back then and now has to work with her daily after sharing that history? Peter sighs before running a hand over his face. "We dated from sophomore year until graduation."

He could have given her the exact amount of days but he figures that might not help his case any.

"Wow, high school sweethearts. That's... Something."

"Uh, sure. So what are you doing?" He winces at his obvious wish to change the subject and wants to slam his head against his desk when he hears her chuckle wickedly. "Oh, no Commander. You've dug yourself a hole that's too deep to get out of. Why'd you guys break up?"

Peter thinks for a moment that he's never had a hole too deep for him to get out of but still shifts again in his chair, stuck on what exactly to say because he knows when it comes to women normally he has to have the answer they want him to have or there'll be hell to pay. "Feelings weren't mutual."

"Right... So is it weird working with her?"

"No. Not anymore." He says it so quickly that he's not sure if he's trying to convince Megan or himself of this so he try's to elevate that fear somewhat. "It was at first but once we got past the initial oddness of the situation we were fine." Except for the fact that he's been lying to them about the situation with Coulson and Ava knows this and has been furious with him for weeks but he decides not to say that part because its not really relevant to Megan.

"Oh, well that's... Good, I guess."

The way she says it doesn't really sit right with Peter so he clears his throat and says, "You okay?"

"What? Me? Yeah, I'm perfectly fine. Listen I gotta go but I'll call you soon. Next time I'm on leave I might come to paradise for a little while to see my favorite commander. Can't call you my A. J. Squared Away anymore since you've run off with this task force of yours."

"Well that's great news and I can still call you my Bun cause I'm gonna make sure you are when you come." He states wiggling his brows even though she couldn't see. "Pun totally intended."

"Right back at you Hot Dog." He chuckles, imagining her winking back at him as if to say come and get it and shakes his head as she continues, "Alright I'll let you get back to paradise."

"Okay don't party too hard without me." He doesn't wait for her reply, knowing that she knows him well enough to acknowledge his dislike for goodbyes and ends the call, placing the device on the desk. Sighing, Peter looks at the paperwork again and decides he needs something to eat before he finishes this, so he gathers up most of the papers, his badge, and his gun and makes his way down to the parking lot.

Once he was at his truck he places his stack of unfinished reports in the passenger seat and suddenly his spidey senses go off and he's acting on instinct.

He side steps to the left and watches as the threat rams his shoulder into the truck's door where Peter previously stood. Peter takes a step forward pushing the threat's body into the truck and pressing his elbow against the back of the man's neck. When Peter tilts his head to see who the threat was he is shocked to see a certain doctor's face pressed into the side of his truck. Letting go, Peter takes a step back. "What the hell, Alex?"

The doctor merely flares his nostrils and lunges at Peter. The commander steels himself for the impact but is surprised when Alex is strong enough to tackle him to the ground, the air leaving his lungs harshly the moment his back hits the ground and his head snaps back from force, hitting the pavement with a resounding thud that leaves him seeing stars for a second. The doctor leaves Peter no time to recover from the blow to the head, his fist connecting with the commander's jaw repeatedly.

Peter finally is able to shove him off when the doctor puts too much force behind one punch and loses his balance but before Peter can get up Alex is kicking him repeatedly in the side. When he pulls his leg back to kick him once more, Peter swings his arm out and sweeps the doctor's legs out from under him. Parker pulls himself up blinking dizzily for a second as Alex recuperates and stands. Peter growls out in frustration and anger, lunging at the doctor and throwing an uppercut to Alex's jaw and an elbow to his throat.

The doctor makes a weird choking sound at the impact and stumbles backward, leaning against Peter's Silverado and grabbing at his throat. Peter's fists clench at his side as images of Ava's bruised skin pop up in his mind and he wants to beat the shit outta of this asshole even more than he did when the doctor decided to attack him in the first place. Slamming his knee into the other man's stomach, Peter pulls the bent-over doctor up and balances the poor bastard against the truck. "You wanna tell me why the hell you are assaulting an officer before said officer books your ass?"

Again, Alex doesn't answer, slamming his forehead into the commander's nose, a nasty crunch causing Peter to curse and step back as blood pours from his nose. Alex takes the opportunity to throw another punch, this one harder and straight to the stomach. Peter coughs, the blood running from his nose splattering onto the pavement, and when the doctor makes another effort to punch him, Peter catches his arm and twists it behind his back harshly, a sickening pop causing the doctor to cry out. Shoving Alex against the truck, Peter sees red and all he can think about is Ava, bruises, busted nose, and that this asshole is dead meat.

He pulls his fists back and slams them one after another over and over again into the doctor's face, every now and then pulling his knee up hard into the man's stomach. He grabs the doctor by the hair and is about to slam his face into the side of the Silverado when he hears shouting from behind him. He blinks away the rage and when he pulls his hands back to his sides the doctor slides limply to the ground, his face battered, bruised, and bloodied.

Peter stares evenly at the doctor until he feels hands pull him back out of the way and he looks finally at the voices that had stopped him to see Matt and Ava there, only Ava had rushed passed him to kneel in front of the injured doctor placing her hands gently on his bruised face. Matt shoves his shoulder roughly to get his attention. When Peter meets the blonde's gaze, Matt practically hisses, his hands moving about hysterically, "What the fuck happened here?"

Peter narrows his eyes at his partner, his jaw clenching and unclenching. "He fucking attacked me."

"H-he attacked you? Why the hell would he attack you? Unless of course you gave him a reason to!" Matt shouted accusingly, clearly laying blame on their commander.

Peter rolled his eyes, scoffing at his partner. "I don't have a clue why he did it."

"It was my fault." The two men snap their heads to the Hawaiian knelt in front of Alex who winced in pain. "Just go back in and I'll be there in a second."

Clenching his jaw, Peter sighed turning his back to them and walking back into the palace.

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><p>Peter was looking at his reflection, dabbing the rag Matt had given him at the blood still slowly running from his bruising nose, when he thought to himself that the doctor could surprisingly pack a punch that's for sure. Peter's jaw and cheek were both bruising already and his abdomen was sore as hell. He winced as he lifted his shirt to check for bruises, frowning at the darkened places spotting his skin.<p>

He sighed and let the shirt fall back over the colored flesh. He'll be good as new in an hour tops with his fast healing anyways. He picks the mirror back up and starts dabbing again when his office door is being opened again. He rolls his eyes for the millionth time and turns ready to tell his partner, who had hovered over him when he had first started cleaning up until Peter had practically ordered him to go, to leave again. "I said I was fine Ma— Ava? Thought you'd be with Alex?"

Ava scowls back at him, circling around the desk to stand in front of him as she placed the first aid box and clean towels she had on the desk. "He's fine. One of the guys from HPD is handling him."

In the short time she had been out there with the doctor he had only glared at her, and when she finally apologized for calling another man's name in such an intimate moment, she had been shocked into silence by the sudden stinging on her cheek. When she had turned her wide eyes back to the doctor, she couldn't hold back the furious shout of "what the fuck" which only received another glare so she had simply got up and walked back to the palace. She told an HPD officer to go take care of him and managed to grab a couple of clean towels, and a first aid box before she made her way to her commander. Opening the box, she seen half a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, gauze, medical tape, some butterfly bandages, and other things she knew she wouldn't need.

With a practiced eye, Ava immediately assessed his visible injuries, frowning at the guilt building in the pit of her stomach. She knows he'll be fine—the lucky idiot has his spidey healing that he nearly always falls back on, almost as much as he does with his spidey senses— but it doesn't take away the guilt and concern churning in her gut. She hated that he relied too much on it back then, and she is starting to remember just why she hated it now.

Taking note of how he stood, leaning over his abdomen, his right arm draped over his stomach, Ava knew he was hurt under his shirt. But first she needed to take care of his bloodied nose. She picked up a clean towel and a water bottle he must have been drinking from earlier, to dampen the towel. Aware of the piercing blue eyes watching her every movement, Ava cleared her throat. "Sit."

"Ava I'm f—"

"I said sit." She snaps, her eyes meeting his furiously and he realizes that, that fury wasn't directed at him this time so in order to keep it that way he pulls himself onto the desk, wincing silently at the pain that shot through his abdomen. She steps closer, between his legs, and softly wipes at the drying crimson. "I will be brand new in an hour tops."

"I know," she murmurs as one hand comes to rest gently against his cheek, her thumb skimming over a bruise, and he winces slightly. "You need to learn how to duck."

The corner of his mouth quirks up, but the amusement doesn't reach his eyes. They stay deep and dark, suddenly filling with a familiar warmth she doesn't know if she can ignore any longer. A warmth she honestly doesn't know if she wants to ignore anymore. It's only been months but she's so tired of fighting, and worrying, and aching, and she thinks maybe they could somehow work this out, maybe he still feels the same, and maybe she can show him how much he truly means to her, but he blinks and the moment is gone and so is her brief moment of hope.

Her hands go back to cleaning him up before she even begins to register it, and once she's got most of the blood off of him, she dabbs some peroxide onto a cut under his right eye, one that oddly matched the scar high on his left cheekbone. Her gaze is immediately pulled to the imperfection and she softly runs her index finger over it. "What happened here?"

His blue gaze, which had been so graciously locked onto her, fell to the ground and he shakes his head slightly. "There was a kid in Kabul who was being abused by his father. One day I seen him beat the kid and when I intervened there was a fight. The guy had one hell of a punch and he tried to kill me with a knife. There was a scuffle over it and somehow he managed to cut me here before we fell and it went straight into his chest."

She nods solemnly. "What happened to the kid?"

Peter swallows, shaking his head. "He blamed me, then blamed the U. S. and joined forces with a terrorist group. The last I heard he... He was killed trying to bomb a subway in New York."

Ava watches the guilt flicker to life in his blue eyes, and she frowns at the urge to take him in her arms and just hold him. "Do you know if he was given a chance to live?"

Anger clouds his vision at her question, his busted lips twisting up into a half-snarl, half-grimace. "He didn't. I got someone from Shield to send me the confidential surveillance videos. An old wiser and a rookie cop were the first to get there. The old one was talking him down, but when he was putting the detonator down, the rookie must've panicked because he opened fire."

"I'm sorry. He never should've went through any of it." Ava says softly because he looks like he's going to throw or break something.

He scoffs. "Damn straight."

When he moves to stand up in attempt to end the conversation, Ava's attention quickly moves back to the matter at hand and she places a stubborn hand on his shoulder. "_Stay. Put._"

Their gazes meet stubbornly, his reflecting hurt and anger, hers concern and guilty fury. Peter's the one to finally break the stare, sighing because deep inside he knows he will never be able to deny this woman anything, no matter how small. "Whatever, but I'm perfectly fine. You should probably be more concerned about your boyfriend."

"Peter." The way she says it makes him wish he could just take it back because it's halfway between a broken plea and a half-hearted warning but it's what she says next that causes him to shut his mouth and do what he's told. "Please just let me fix this." _Fix you_.

It's unspoken but he hears her silent plea, practically sees it when he nearly drowns in her dark gaze, but luckily he passed the drown-proofing drills with flying colors and he's able to pull himself out of the brown depths and nod his acceptance.

"I need to check under your shirt."

Peter raises a brow, letting a faux-smirk slide over his lips. "Now, now, Ava what would the others think? Especially if you don't do this for them."

Scoffing she threw the towel at his face which he caught with ease, a smug grin settling over his lips, as she snorted unladylike. "If I'm the reason they get hurt then I'd do the same for them. Now shirt."

Peter rolls his eyes but his hands went to the back of shirt anyways, clenching his teeth at having to stretch his sore abdomen. In one swift motion, Peter pulls the cotton shirt over his head, causing his dog tags to clink against his formed pecs, and Ava lets out an involuntary "Oh shit." at seeing what the shirt was hiding.

The skin of Peter's abdomen and part of his chest was mottled in bruises of varying colors. Unable to resist the urge, she reaches out and, with just the tips of her fingers, touches the skin, gently gliding her fingers over the bruising. The skin was warm to the touch from the abuse and as soon as her fingers touch the abused skin of his abdomen, Peter lets out a hiss of pain, but doesn't pull away. She closes her eyes at the churning in her gut. This is her fault. Her anger at his lying and her desire for him entirely led to this.

"I'll be right back." She sighs, pulling away and silently stalking out of the room. When she returns moments later, she's carrying an ice pack wrapped in another towel. She works her jaw as she makes her way back in front of him. Her cheek is already sore and she hopes its not red or something visible like that because it will only lead to more trouble, more trouble caused by her.

When she places the cold pack on his abdomen his muscles ripple from shock as he flinches and he lets out another hiss. Averting her gaze from the taut and bruised skin beneath the ice pack, she meets his eyes with hers. "Sorry."

He swallows at how close they are before nodding and letting his gaze roam over her features. His brows furrow at the strange redness of her right cheek and he wonders why just one side is bright red while the other is her normal sun-kissed skin until a stray thought of who just attacked him in the parking lot flutters into his mind.

Suddenly fingers were wrapping around her wrist, stilling her motions and she snapped her eyes up to catch Peter looking at her intently, his gaze slowly becoming furious. "Did he hit you?"

"What?" She asks, feigning ignorance so to not make things worse.

It only causes the commander to stiffen. _Oh yeah_, Peter knows her too well to do that.

Regretfully she pulls her hand out from under his, letting him hold the ice pack in place and moves to clean up her mess. Ava is very aware that his eyes follows her every move as she picks up the towels and straightens up the first aid box. It is a little disconcerting especially since he never speaks.

"Look, I have it under control, Peter. Everything's fine. Now stop looking at me like that." She snaps, hating the way her voice sounds so small yet so hard and bitter. He clenches his jaw but doesn't move to say anything else. Silently she slowly packs the first aid back up, also very aware that she is still standing between his legs, with little space between their bodies.

Despite the situation, Ava gets that familiar feeling in the pit of her stomach again, the feeling that had caused her to go seek out the doctor before any of this, a reminder of her never failing attraction, or maybe connection, with this man no matter the situation.

She opens a butterfly bandaid and steps closer to him to put it on the cut under his eye. As she finishes placing the butterfly bandages on the cut, his hand lands on her hip, gently squeezing.

Her brain was screaming at her to back up, move away, but her body would not cooperate to save her life. This was bad, because his fingers were burning her skin through her top, the old desire between them moving swiftly at the contact point. Looking up at him, Ava saw the same torn expression on his face, though neither moved to place the appropriate space between them, to break the connection.

"Peter…" she started softly, but honestly didn't know what to say after that because dammit deep down she didn't want him to let go. But the circumstances were far from ideal at that moment and she knew as the one who ends up hurting the other more times than she can count, she would have to make the first move.

So she breaks their gazes, hers averting down and following the length of the ball-link chain around his neck and her hand curls around the dog tags at the end of it against his bare chest. She trails her thumb over the name there and when she moves her hand she notices there's something else there hanging with the two flat pieces. She moves the dog tags out of her way and she furrows her brows at the beautiful diamond ring that shines under the fluorescent lights. She studies the ring for a couple of seconds, her fingers smoothing over the engraved patterns along the silver band, before she meets his eyes again.

He was watching her silently as she had taken in the ring he always wore around his neck and at the unspoken question in her gaze he swallows before clearing his throat. "It was mom's. Aunt May gave it to me a long time ago and told me I should give it to the woman I want to be with forever and always like the inscription on the inside of it."

At his words, she looks down again and sees on the inside of the band the words 'you're my forever and always. Love you.' She can feel her throat starting to close up because she wonders how long he's really had it, wonders if she had been his forever and always like he had been hers, and wonders who would end up getting this beautiful ring from this incredible, brave, handsome _idiot_ because whoever did, well, she'll definitely be one lucky woman.

"It was one of the few things we got back from my parents after their deaths." He says quietly, remembering the day his Aunt May had given it to him, and of course remembering the day he had decided on who would be the _only_ woman to ever wear it again, the day of devastatingly heartwrenching words spoken in an airport that changed him more than he cares to admit. But of course he doesn't tell Ava now that he had planned on proposing to her on the day she left for Hawaii—like some romantic comedy because even though she tried keeping it a secret he knew those were her favorite— only to actually leave him instead.

"Anyone ever cross your mind?" She couldn't contain it, the slippery question tumbling out of her mouth dripping with curiosity, almost intrusive-like. When their gazes meet again, she can see the strong and barely controlled emotions swimming in his blue eyes.

He isn't sure whether he should say yes or no, torn between the two because of the fact that the woman is damn smart and she knows the things he doesn't say with just a look or with just mere one word answers, but his mouth is already opening with his answer. "Yeah, there was at one time. Not anymore."

She deflates a little at his words because of two possibilities: if it was her he had thought of proposing to, it only adds to the guilt and regret of breaking up with him, but if it was another woman... she can feel he heart drop at the mere thought. She clears her throat her gazes flickering over the ring one last time before letting them clink against his chest and taking a small step back. "That's— well I'm sorry she wasn't who you thought she was?"

He nods slowly and she watched disappointment cross his face before his features went neutral again. She goes to apologize for everything, for the way Alex treated him, and for the way she's treated him for the past few days because there's got to be a certain reason he's keeping the truth from them and she's got to be able to put faith in him and trust that the reason is a damn good one, but before she gets the chance, Matt bombards through the glass door, his hands already flailing around.

"I just can't bel—" he stops when he notices their very compromising positions with Ava still between a very bare-chested Peter's legs and Peter's hand still placed on her hip as if it was attempting to pull her back to him. Matt's hand still their flailing and his gaze jumps between the two suspiciously. "What's going on here? Is this why SuperSEAL and Doc McAngry got into it in the damn parking lot?"

If the situation was any different, Ava might've laughed at Matt's new nickname for Alex, but instead she rolls her eyes and steps away from Peter who places the ice pack on his desk and she can practically see that the walls are up just a bit higher now.

"Nah, Matty... I still don't know why Sir Punchalots decided to ambush me out there." He then turns to Ava, his gaze not holding any hint of the emotion that he had showed moments before. "Care to explain why?"

Shifting her weight onto her other foot, Ava picked up the towels and first aid box, thinking that she must have imagined the vulnerable trusting moment that passed between the two prior to the detective's arrival. "Don't worry about it. I have to go take this stuff back. I should make sure he's been put in a holding cell until you decide whether or not you will press charges anyways."

The two men watch her as she nods awkwardly and silently walks out of the office. After a few quiet moments, Matt finally chuckles glancing at his partner. "Sir Punchalots? Nice one."

Peter merely grins at him until Matt makes his way to the door too with a parting, "you're so not off the hook for this though."

* * *

><p>He asks HPD to let him talk to Alex and of course they decline, saying they can't be too cautious when it comes to the commander, so when he spots what looks to be a <em>real<em> rookie—what with his holster empty and the nervous stressful gaze darting every which way—standing outside of an interrogation room guarding the door, he knows who's in there.

He casually strides up to the young Hawaiian, causing the man to stiffen and cross his arms. Peter easily smirks at the closed-off stance. "Aloha. Are you, uh, using this room? Cause if not I need to borrow it for a few."

"It's being used." He replies quickly, his gaze seemingly measuring him up.

Peter holds up his hands. "Sorry," he squints at the name plate on the man's uniform. "Officer Kimoana, so you know who's in there?"

The man narrows his eyes and shifts his feet. "I do. And you can't go in Commander Parker. I have orders to keep you out."

Dropping the innocent facade, Peter steps well into the rookie's personal space. "Let me in for five minutes. That's all I'm asking. He just attacked me and I only wanna find out why. I won't touch him." _Much_.

The rookie glances nervously around before meeting Peter's intense gaze again. He sighs. "Fine. Five minutes but I better not get in trouble with the chief for this."

Smirking, Peter twists the doorknob. "You won't," he says before disappearing into the room.

The doctor's head snaps up when he hears the door open and Peter can recognize the slight fear in his brown eyes before they harden with resentment at recognizing who had entered. Stopping dead in front of Alex, the commander places his hands on the table that separates them and stares back at the cardiologist just as hard. "Wanna tell me what the hell happened out there now that you're handcuffed to an interrogation table?"

"Why don't you ask Ava?" Alex spits back harshly.

"You and I both know I won't be getting the answer from her." Peter starts earnestly before nonchalantly taking a seat in the chair across from the doctor who stays silent. "Fine. Don't wanna tell me, right now? That's okay. We'll just come back to it. How about you tell me what the fuck you have over her?"

At this Alex furrows his brows, tilting his head in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"I mean, I've noticed how aggressively possessive you are which normally isn't Ava's style so I assume you have something over her that prevents her from leaving your ass. I want to know what that something is."

Scoffing, the doctor glanced behind him at the one-way window, wondering if anyone was there. "I have no idea what you are talking about."

Peter couldn't hold back the frustrated growl as he slammed a hand down on the table that caused the doctor to jump and turn his gaze back to the commander before Peter pointed an accusatory finger at the Hawaiian. "I'm talking about the fact that Ava Ayala is a strong motherfucking badass woman that would never in a million years take any shit from someone, especially a man. I'm talking about the fact that this same Ava Ayala is getting abused by you apparently all the time because you _'don't know your own strength'_ and this same Ava Ayala stays with you for some godforsaken reason instead of roundhouse kicking your ass into the next century."

After a brief moment of silence, Alex laughs like Peter just told the biggest joke of the year. "You're fucking nuts. I don't abuse her and I sure as hell don't _blackmail_ her into having a relationship with me."

Narrowing his eyes, Peter scoffs. "So leaving bruises on her arms and hitting her in the face isn't abuse? Well doc why don't you enlighten me on what the hell your actions are called then?"

The doctor has the decency to look away in shame for a split second before he apparently remembers what a son of a bitch he is. "It doesn't matter. You can't prove whether I'm the one who done it or not."

This made Peter pause for a second before he shrugged. "I suppose you're right, but I can very much prove what happened out there in the parking lot. I have the contusions to prove it."

Lifting his shirt to show the bruises on his abdomen before letting it go again, Peter tilts his head before continuing. "Which reminds me... What was it again that made you assault me?"

The doctor stays silent, his lithe fingers running over the smooth table.

Peter shrugs nonchalantly, slipping into a dual purposed casual tone. "Whatever it was must've pissed you off really bad. Was it the pillow talk? Did she tell you how I was her first real kiss? Her first sex partner?" He leans in now because he can see the telltale sign of the doctor's jaw clenching that shows he's getting to Alex. Peter can get him to talk with just a little more push. He knows it. "Or maybe she told you how much she liked it when I kissed her right on her hips or at the small of her back? Oh, I know, she told you it drove her nearly mad to bite the little junction where her neck and shoulder meets, not too hard but just enough like I use to do. Hey, while I got you here and she's not around, does she still do that thing with her tongue? Because _God_ that always made me c—"

"_Shut. Up._" Alex breathes out heavily, his shoulder heaving with the anger that's rolling off him in waves and his fingers clasp each other tightly.

Peter feigns confusion then bafflement. "Oh my, I'm sorry. Did she not tell you any of that?" He sits back and puts a hand to his chin before snapping his fingers. "I know! Was it how much she secretly liked it when we fucked on some desk or counter? Even more against a wall? How she liked it slow and sensual on days she was feeling calm or maybe a little insecure, but when she was pissed, wound up, or hell even jealous, she liked it hard and fast? You know, she even pushed me into a janitor closet one time because apparently one of our friends at work had a crush on me and was flirting with me, which I really was clueless about. That was the first time she went dow—"

"I said shut up!"

Peter shoots up in his seat at the doctor's yell, leaning farther over the table than necessary. His eyes narrow harshly and he's sure if Matt was there he'd say Peter's aneurism face is set in. "Listen buddy, I don't know why you aren't telling me or why I should even care, but the only one who is going to be doing the shutting up is you because I want you to listen closely and I mean closely. If I press charges, that means you'll be charged with a felony offense and have your med license revoked, not to mention what it'll do to your reputation which I believe is very important to you."

Peter can see the moment this all sets in for the doctor because the fear comes back and he stumbles over a reply. "L-look I-I will d-do anything just please don't press charges. I can't lose my license and God, what are people going to say? What was I thinking?" Now he seems to be mumbling to himself and Peter raises a brow at the doctor. "Risking all my hard work for—for a girl who isn't even the best I've be—"

"Hey! You better stop right there, doc, or you might lose more than just your fancy paper and rep." Peter growls warningly.

Alex looks over at him almost pleadingly. "Please don't press charges."

"I won't on one condition." Peter says, placing his elbows on the table and interlocking his fingers.

"Name it." Alex pleads too quickly to have any dignity left.

"Stay away from her. Don't come near her at all. Don't call her, text her, contact her in anyway. Don't say her name. Don't even fucking _think_ of her. Ever." Peter finishes pointedly, his eyes narrowing and watching every little move the doctor makes.

"Deal. You have a deal." He agrees after a split second of silence and Peter smirks victoriously and gets up. Before he moves toward the door he pins the doctor with his best deathly glare. "Just remember if you break the deal, I won't hesitate to send your ass to jail."

* * *

><p>On the other side of the glass, Ava bites her lip and crosses her arms. She wants to crawl in a hole and die because even though she feels she should be mad about Peter going behind her back with this, she can't help but feel her heart beat straight out of her chest for the way he is trying to protect her. Especially right after being in a fight that was her fault to begin with.<p>

She glances awkwardly at the blonde detective who has been oddly quiet the entire time they had snuck in there after realizing where their leader had went. Throughout the entire exchange in front of them, Ava had been the only one to make a sound, a mere wince when Peter had slammed his hand so hard onto the table she had thought the glass might shatter from the loud echo. When Peter had started in on the small details of their old sexcapades, she had blushed fifty shades of red. Pun kinda intended.

But Matt had stayed silent, and Ava knows why. She knows that the blonde is analyzing the facts and factoring everything in with what he is observing in front of him. It's what he does when a case bothers him too much, what makes him such a good detective and Ava really doesn't want to be one of those cases to him because the detective can be very persistent. So when he starts pacing next to her she leans against the wall, knowing at some point he'll want to ask questions, and while she doesn't want to answer them, she knows if she doesn't he'll only keep asking until she does.

Matt finally sighs, looking at her somewhat conflicted because he doesn't feel that it's his place to ask these questions because even though he and Ava are buds and he cares very much for her, he thinks that she's a lot closer to the other two of their team for obvious reasons—one being family and the other being her ex-boyfriend/current friend/boss— and would be more comfortable with them. Nevertheless, he wants to be there for her and in order to do that he has necessary questions that need to be answered first. "Does Alex really abuse you?"

Ava stills because while she sees Peter's point from a lawful perspective, she doesn't really think that bruised arms are very abusive especially compared to the victims they've witnessed in their cases so she shrugs, attempting to downgrade the conversation into a lighter subject. "I just think Peter's been hanging around you too much with all the overdramatic bullshit he's pulling, brah."

Matt gives her a "answer the question" look and she sighs. "He's grabbed my arms a few times and left bruises but I hardly count that as abuse."

The blondes lips thin as if he wants to say something but for the first time holds it back. He nods silently and a little strained, his hands fly to his hips and he stares at the ceiling because if he doesn't do something to keep his gaze from roaming back to the man on the other side of that window he'll be joining his overwhelmingly growly partner to force the doctor to never come near their rookie again. "Why are you still with him?"

When she doesn't answer he turns his gaze back to the quiet woman. His features soften when he notices the torn emotions expressed unhidden on face. "Ava, whether you believe it is or not that man is abusing you. And like Pete said you're a strong woman who doesn't take crap from anyone, so that just begs the question of why you're still with him. I mean sex is good and all, but it's never that good."

Ava shifts her feet and glances back through the glass to watch as Peter walked out of the room and Alex slumped over the table. "Because..."

"_Because what_? Ava, you gotta give me a reason! You can't ju—"

"Because he makes it easier to forget about Commander Idiot!" She growls frustratedly, unshed tears suddenly causing her gaze to blur before she angrily wipes a hand across them. Matt freezes when she pins him with her stare, his eyes widening in mild surprise. Ava's hands spread out beside her and she shakes her head.

"Is that what you wanna hear? Are you happy with that answer? Because that's all I got, okay? That's all I got." She finishes softly, her hands curling in to make fists now.

"Ava," Matt starts softly after a moment of deafening silence as he comes to understand that she's simply using Alex to forget her true feelings toward their commander and steps closer to her. "You can't do that to yourself. You're only hurting yourself more by doing that."

She scoffs begrudgingly and mumbles, "Yeah, well, I deserve it after what I did to him." She pauses and shakes her head, raising her voice so Matt could actually hear what she's saying. "It doesn't matter. Just forget it, Matt."

She moves to leave the room, but before she makes it to the door, Matt is in front of her with his hands on her shoulders as he speaks in the voice he uses on Gracie, the voice that almost makes Ava feel like a kid again. "I won't just forget it, Ava. You're my friend and I won't leave you to deal with this by yourself. I know you don't like the thought of needing someone to be there for you because you're like freaking Storm but listen, sometimes you need a Wolverine, Beast, or a Cyclops to be there for backup. Cyclops, of course, being the always handsome and charismatic me, Beast being the incredibly intelligent and calm Kai, and finally Wolverine being the overwhelmingly rash and grouchy SuperIdiot we all know and love." He smirks at her for a second, attempting to lift her spirit with a light-hearted jab at their favorite commander. "But shh don't tell him that or his ego will burst throw the roof."

Ava snorts, her eyes rolling and her lips twitching up into a smile as she finally joined in on the bandwagon. "Like it hasn't already. "

Matt grins full-on now, pulling her to his side and squeezing her in a friendly gesture. "You have a remarkable point, Rookie. Shall we go exploit this issue with our impetuous controlling leader?"

Chuckling, Ava places a hand between Matt's shoulder blades and grins. "That we shall, Detective."

And like that they moved together toward the door but right as they were opening it Ava whispered a "thank you" to Matt for being there for her even when she doesn't want him to. She kinda loves this guy—like a bro because come on, Matt? _Ew_—at least when he's not being a pain in the ass.

* * *

><p>"I saw that."<p>

Peter paused as he approached her, then shook his head. "Ava. Come on." He waved a hand. "Get off the car."

Ava didn't move. She remained there, sitting comfortably on the hood of the silver Camaro with her arms casually folded, a small taunting smirk playing along her lips.

"What, you imitating me now?" Peter joked. "Come on, get off my car. It's been a long day. We're going home."

"My car, thank you," Matt corrected from behind before sliding into the passenger seat and slamming the door shut.

Peter put a hand to his brows to shield his eyes from the sun. He stared at Ava.

"I saw what you did back there, Parker," she repeated, smiling softly. "You telling Alex to stay away from me."

"Is that right?" He stiffens, glancing at Matt in the car before meeting her surprisingly _not_ angry gaze.

"That was sweet of you," Ava teased, grinning childishly. "So da big Kahuna still has a protective side."

"Shut up." He roughly rustled her hair, letting the tiniest of smirks appear on his face before it returned to its usual seriousness. "You know, always the tone of disbelief. It's hurtful, it really is."

Chuckling, Ava stood, sliding off the hood of the car gracefully, and they stand in awkward silence. Peter kicks at the pavement, cringing at the distinct memory of how hard his head had hit it only minutes before. Ava smiles shyly for a moment. "Thanks, boss. Really. And, um, sorry... about everything."

Meeting her gaze, Peter knew she wasn't just talking about the thing with Alex, but also for not trusting him enough to know he's just trying to protect them from whatever it is Coulson and him are hiding from them, for taking her anger out on him instead of simply putting faith in his judgement call.

Peter clears his throat and rubs at the back of his neck, nodding slowly. "It's okay... I'm sorry too... for not—"

Ava cuts him off. "Don't worry about it, Web-head. I know you don't want to tell me. Whatever is between you and Coulson," she sighs in defeat. "Well, that's just your business. Not mine. Not anymore."

He opens his mouth to tell her no it's not that he doesn't _want_ to tell her because he does, he really, _really_ does, but instead he feels his head nod again and hears himself saying, "so we're good then? No more hostility toward me and no more Alexander the Asshole to worry about, right?"

She snorts at his quip and smiles with her dimples on full display. "Of course we're good, boss. Can't have you going on some solo rampage again. HPD might finally try to arrest your ass."

"That would be a pity, wouldn't it?" He jokes, smirking over at her. "I don't know though, handcuffs can be pretty hot and just think with them on me, Commander SexySEAL, and damn! I'll have the women begging for it."

Ava laughs outright, a small blush forming on her cheeks as she imagines Peter—sorry Commander SexySEAL— handcuffed to her bed waiting just for her and she shakes her head. "Alright Commander SexySEAL, I'll let your wifey be the judge of that. See you tomorrow boss."

She winks at him and starts walking away before her comment hits him and he spins around. "Hey! I resent that!"

Peter smiles when he hears her laugh and sees her wave behind her back as she heads back to the palace. He chuckles and shakes his head as he slides into his partner's car. Oh, just another day in paradise.

**Sooooo? I wanna know what ya think and the only way I'll know that is for you to leave me a review or msg me and I'm absolutely positively cool with either of those. Favs and follows are always welcomed too! Love ya! **


	14. Chapter 14: Sure, Sure?

**Hey guys, back again with a new chapter! Hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything.**

* * *

><p>Things died down the next couple of weeks, everyone calming and getting ready for Kai's upcoming wedding. Alex had been released the day of and so far has kept up his end of the deal and hasn't contacted Ava at all. Peter made sure of it by putting an HPD officer on his tail to follow up and make sure their deal was being kept. Ava of course has no idea of this but Peter thinks it's for the best.<p>

So now, weeks later, the team, save for Kai who had took the day to get some last minute things done for his wedding later in the day, stood on the deck of the small Coast Guard boat as it quietly sped farther into the open Waikiki waters. The atmosphere was somber as Peter finished briefing them on the contents of the call he had just received. Apparently, a party boat had just been hijacked by local pirates— yes pirates— and the 13 college students onboard had gone missing.

"You think they were specifically targeted?" Matt asked, squinting against the sun.

Ava put down her binoculars. "They're just college kids on vacation."

Peter nodded. "Don't know. Doesn't mean one of them couldn't have gotten a little crazy one night, said the wrong thing to the wrong stranger, mixed up with the wrong crowd."

Ava chuckled humorlessly and raised the binoculars to her face again. "Yeah, that sounds like spring break all right."

Matt folded his arms and tutted in approval. "Oh, really? Watch out, our little rookie is not as innocent as she looks. You, uh, you have some crazy spring break stories you want to share with the class?"

She smirked, eyes switching over to Peter who was hiding his own smirk and lifting his pair of binoculars. "Mm, none like yours, Matt."

"What, no trips to Miami, boat parties in the harbor, no police coming by at 4 am to tell your drunk asses to go home?"

"You wanna tell him, Boss, or should I?"

Peter brought his binoculars down and looked back at them, feigning innocence. "What?"

Ava laughed. "Fine then, most of the time we spent ours doing our 'jobs' and lets just say we'd see some crazy things on duty. Oh and Pete and I went on a private plane to this gorgeous island and spent time together."

"Hang on, private plane? How the hell do a couple of teenagers get access to a private plan? One of you rich and just holding out on us?"

Peter smirked. It had actually been a SHIELD plane and the gorgeous island was one of their safe houses for the agents, but they couldn't exactly tell that. It had only been the spring break of their senior year too and was one of the best weeks of his life. Ava looked over at Peter, smiling softly as she recalled the memories of the beautiful clear ocean, candle-lit dinners, relaxing in hammocks, dancing in the moonlight, and making their own 'music' to the sound of the waves. "Nah, brah, just had connections."

"Touché. So what did the mysteriously private exs do on this spring break?"

Ava spared him a smirk before turning back to her binoculars and Peter stood quietly, staring at him with arms folded and a raised brow. Matt sat back, realizing what they did, and scrunched up his face. "Ew. Okay, dumb question on my part. You guys were the stereotypical horny teens, weren't you? First it was a date on a rooftop, then after prom, both junior and senior year, then at, what was it," He snapped his fingers trying to recall the name of some details the two had slipped out during their time together.

Ava snapped her head around at his initial comment before meeting Peter's gaze. How did Matt know about the night on the rooftop? She sure didn't tell him. That night was one of those times that she held close to her not only because it was the night of losing something important but it was also the night everything between her and Peter felt absolutely perfect. "You told him?"

Peter froze glancing uncertainly between the two as Matt looked back and winced. "Uh, what?"

"You told him about the night on the roof?" She furrowed her brows as something oddly ached inside her at him sharing that secret night with Matt of all people. Peter crossed his arms and glanced nervously around before he settled his gaze back on Ava, nearly flinching at the hurt look in her dark gaze and suddenly his tone became strangely defensive and accusatory. "Well I didn't know it was a secret since your cousin blurted it out in front of everyone."

Ava rose a brow as if saying 'really?' before placing a hand on her hip. "Wow, Parker, honestly? You really have some nerve."

Peter scoffed, his temper flaring for some odd reason. Wait no, not odd just simply because of the way she said it. "Me? I have the nerve? How about you, huh? You think I just loved the fact that your cousin, my subordinate, knows about that and basically told everyone in some bar when he yelled it out?"

Matt looked between the two, wishing he could just hop on a different boat to avoid this conversation and for once wishing he just kept his mouth shut. Ava shook her head. "That's different."  
>Peter chuckled dryly. "Completely. Right? My bad I forgot I'm not as good as you."<p>

"What? I never said that Parker! I just— it happened ages ago. Why in the hell are you even talking about it?" Ava asked, suddenly realizing he had to think about it to actually tell it. Does that mean he still thinks of her like that? Like a lover would? No, he couldn't, could he?

Peter looked back in shock as he came to the same realization and not wanting to seem like he was still pining away after all this time, he schooled his features into a nonchalant expression and shrugged. "Wha— I mean he— he asked!"

There was a few tense seconds where Ava watched Peter and Peter forced himself to keep his eyes on hers before Matt clapped his hands together.  
>"Uh, okay! So back on the subject! So now a week at some island?"<p>

"Half a week. We worked half of the week, then went." Peter mumbled distractedly, finally turning and looking through his binoculars again to avoid Ava's stare.

Matt held up his hand. "Sorry, correction, half a week. How the hell did you not get pregnant, woman? And where the hell were the adults during these times?"

Gritting her teeth, Ava finally swiveled around, getting tired of Matt's questions. "Matt, I didn't get pregnant because obviously I wasn't stupid and we used protection. And we actually got caught once by his aunt and another time by our 'boss' so they were around just didn't know what we were up to. Now can you shut up and help look for these kids?"

Holding his hands up, Matt shook his head. "Okay, okay. Geez, no need to go all Grumpa-lumpa-cus on me."

"I see the boat." Peter announces suddenly, breaking through the veil of short annoyance.

* * *

><p>They have been chasing this guy for 20 minutes. Of course Peter and Ava are the ones who actually run on foot after the man because a) they are Peter Parker and Ava Ayala, and b)they are the fastest of the three. Matt was instructed to cut him off in his car but when he attempted to do just that their runaway swiftly changed directions and led the team through the doors of a tall building and to the stairwell that led to the roof... which was stupid on the man's part because he has no where to go up there.<p>

There are tons of stairs and they take them two at a time in attempt to catch the man that has created a good amount of distance between them from the no-telling-how-many-mile run. So Peter and Ava are tired, sweaty, and all kinds of pissed when they finally reach the top. They have to duck for cover as soon as they burst through the door because the man is firing a .9 mm at them. When Matt finally shows up they're still in a gunfight and Peter wants to knock this bastard's front teeth in for taking up this much valuable time. They had to find those kids and they had to do it quick. This man was the key. He knew their location. So in order to preserve time, Peter made a decision and discreetly made his way to the man.

"Parker!" Matt's voice cried out in concerned warning. Ava directed her gaze from reloading her gun to Peter next to her... Only to realize the commander wasn't beside her anymore. She looked over her cover toward the direction of the man just in time to watch as the perp wrestled with Peter over the gun, grabbed his throat in a last ditch effort to put him off… and wrestled them right over the railing.

It was like in slow motion to her… she could see his strong arms reaching out to grasp for something, anything… and missing. All previous anger towards and hurt from the earlier argument about the commander's show and tell—not really show but still— of their special night went out the door at the scene.

"Peter!" Ava called, fighting down panic. The two rushed to the edge immediately, the concern for their leader overwhelming. When she got to the ledge, what she seen nearly surprised the hell out of her and Matt too, she's sure. Their leader had landed on another lower ledge, half his body dangling dangerously off the side as one hand gripped hard at their perp's and the other stretched flat against the edge of the ledge, straining from the excess weight.

Ava, thankful for his ability to stick to walls, holstered her gun and climbed up onto the higher ledge. Matt grasped her hand quickly, shouting in shock, "What the hell are you doing?!"

Ava shook off his hand and her eyes flitted over the lower ledge and when she was certain she'd hit her mark she gracefully jumped, ignoring Matt's yells. She had to grip the wall when she landed to regain balance before she bent her body in a somewhat awkward position. She reached for Peter's hand before realizing he was speaking to their perp. "My arm's getting pretty tired and I've got plenty more Intel coming through from others so I won't be set back if I let go. All I gotta do is say you slipped outta my hands. Tell me where the kids are and I'll pull you up."

Ava could barely make out the man's face for Parker's body blocked the majority of it but from what she could the man had looked down before gazing uncertainly at the commander who literally held his life in his hands. She seen Peter loosen his grip on the man's arm and heard the man's yell. Peter growled impatiently, "Tell me where the goddamn kids are!"

She could hear Matt's shouts from above them but widely ignored his pleas of getting back to safety. There were more important things going on at the moment. Peter realized the guy needed a little more persuasion, and he peeled his hand away from the ledge for a brief second, causing two things to occur: his body, and affectively the perp's, to drop a good few inches and Ava to gasp loudly from above him, her heart shooting straight into her throat.

The perp yelled kicking his legs and digging his fingers into Peter's forearm in attempt to gain some leverage but still kept silent on the kids' location. "Tell me!"

When the perp hesitated once more, Peter nearly snarled, pushing off the ledge and widely ignoring the cries of concern from his teammates as his body and the perp's fell from the ledge. He briefly felt guilt when he felt soft fingertips try to grasp his hand with no such luck, but as they descended he smirked as the man yelled and finally gave him what he wanted. And his smirk grew into a smug grin when the perp realized they weren't falling anymore for Peter had grasped a flag pole at the last second.

Peter looked up his grin fading as he met Ava's horrified gaze, her mouth open, body flat on the ledge now and leaning as far over as she could, and hand outstretched as if she could've willed him up with just the notion. He could hear Matt's ranting from where he dangled but all he could focus on was the fear in Ava's dark gaze. His brows knitted together in slight confusion. Did they really think he didn't have a plan, that he was going to commit suicide and murder? What the hell? "Hey! I told you what you wanted! Please! Please pull me up!"

The man was weeping now and Peter tore his gaze away from the recovering Ava to glance under him at the man attached to his dangling arm. He started to pull the man up and for the first time realized the weight of the man. Grunting in effort, he pulled the man up to the pole.

"Grab the pole and I'll get us up." He ordered, nodding stiffly at the metal. Their perp obeyed grasping the pole with everything he had. Peter easily pulled himself up and balanced himself on the pole. He crouched, placing one hand on the pole to steady himself and the other grasping the man's wrist.

"On a count of three you're going to pull up and balance yourself on it. Then we'll climb up there," he gesture above them where Ava held her hand out for them patiently.

"One, two, three," Peter helped the man up. Once he was semi-balanced grasping the pole with both hands tightly, Peter stood with ease. He looked up to Ava and nodded. He bent his knees and jumped grasping her hand and before his weight could pull her down, he placed a hand and foot on the wall, sticking to it with a familiar ease.

Ava acted as if she was struggling with his weight, tightening her grip on his hand as he climbed up the wall quickly. Once he was half-way on the ledge he brought his knee up and Ava turned on her side and sat up to give him room all the while keeping up the pretense. When he was finally up they stared at each other, realizing how their bodies were squished together awkwardly on the narrow ledge. A small smirk formed on his lips as he teasingly said, "that would've been a lot easier if we had our masks, huh?"

Letting out the breath she didn't know she was holding, she rewarded him with a snort and a dimpled smile. "Yeah, brah, but I think we managed just fine."

He glanced over his shoulder at their terrified perp before his piercing gaze landed on Ava again. "Now we just gotta get this wimp up and get the kids."

She nodded, before apologizing for nearly head butting him. She pulled herself up and with the help of his hands that came up to wrap around her slender waist she was completely out of his way standing next to his knelt form. Peter turned laying on his stomach and reaching down and Ava mimicked him on the other side. "Hey!" He shouted at the perp to get his attention, and the man hesitated before looking up. "You gotta come closer and stand."

The teary-eyed man gave him a freaked out look and Peter nearly laughed barely stifling it. They watched the perp scoot his way closer to the wall and slowly stood on uncertain feet, gripping the wall until his fingers were white. He first attempted to reach their hands without jumping but upon realizing he couldn't and Peter's verbal order to jump, the man closed his eyes for a brief second before jumping. Peter caught one hand and Ava the other, their bodies sliding forward before Peter placed a hand on the ledge.

"Wrap your free hand around mine!" He called to Ava whose body was still sliding forward. She immediately obeyed linking her arm around Peter's. Working together they pulled the man up and he clung to them his fear still spiked to the max as they moved together in order to fit on the small ledge. Despite his ranting and raving, Matt held out his hand impatiently to help them up to the roof muttering on and on about his two crazy coworkers. Peter maneuvered to stand behind Ava so that he could hoist her up the distance.

When he finally stood behind her, with his chest pressed against her back, he felt his face flood with heat at their closeness. When he subconsciously leaned forward, his head dipping slightly closer to the junction between her neck and shoulder, she tilted her head to look at him. Their gazes met and she nearly drowns in his blue eyes, only being pulled from their depths by the insistent perp wanting desperately to get off the side of the tall building. Once they were finally all up and had the breathless perp in cuffs, Matt started in on Peter, roughly jabbing a finger into his chest. "What the hell was that!?"

Rolling his eyes, Peter glanced at Ava before looking back at Matt, shrugging. "Improvised scare tactic."

"Scare tactic? Yeah, you can say that again! You nearly gave me a fucking heart attack! And you've influenced this previously thought of as a perfectly sane rookie so much that she actually went after your ass!"

"Hey, boss. I think we've got an audience." Ava interrupted Matt's rants after glancing back over the ledge and seeing a few people looking up and even recording with their phones. Peter immediately looks over the edge. "Shit. This is gonna be hard to explain to the governor."

"Hey, I'm not done with you! I am really happy you are not afraid of anything, okay? I'm glad you have that G.I. Joe thousand-yard stare from chasing shoe bombers around the world, okay? But in civilized society, we have rules, all right? It is the unspoken glue that separates us from jackals and hyenas, all right?" Matt ridiculed, guiding the perp to follow Peter and Ava back towards the roof's door.

* * *

><p>They meet outside the location that supposedly held the kids and Peter looks up from checking his gun when he hears Ava calls, "Cuz?"<p>

He sees Kai decked out in Kevlar like the rest of them with his shotgun strapped to his back approach them. Straightening, he glances across the road at the huge house before looking at the eldest member of the team. "You sure you wanna do this on your wedding day?"

"Can't let you guys have all the fun, brah." He jokingly begins before turning serious. "These kids need all the help they can get. Kate will understand."

"Are you sure this is a good idea, cuz?" Ava asks again, heart racing in her chest. "Sure, sure?"

"Yes." Kai reassures her. "The best."

Peter nods. "Ok. HPD will be here in two minutes. Kai, Ava, go inside from the back. Me and Matt will take the front."

Kai goes, shot gun ahead, and Ava assumes positions.

Peter and Matt go up the steps, quietly, eyeing the house in front of them. It's big, maybe three stories, but there doesn't seem to be movement inside. He eyes Matt. "You ready?"

"Yeah." The detective says, looking at the door.

"They're gonna be alright."

Matt turns to look at the commander. "I know that."

Peter eyes his partner for a few more seconds before bringing his free hand up to his ear. "Guys, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear."

"Ok." Peter takes a deep breath. "On my count. One. Two."  
>"Three."<p>

They get in just as HPD's sirens can be heard in the distance. There's no one on the ground floor, to their surprise. No security, no rooms, nothing. It's just a huge entry hall with a flight of stairs that leads to the next floor. Kai and Ava get to them in no time, and quietly, they run up the steps. Ava's heart is beating wildly against her ribs, and she fears someone else might hear it. She's breathing hard, but silently, her eyes sharp and body tense, ready to shoot the first guy that comes in front of her. The first floor is nothing but a hallway. They separate, Ava and Peter going left, Kai and Matt going right. They check every room.

Again, there's nothing.

They stand there looking at each other for a moment before Ava spots a door on the side. She signals Peter, covering him, and he goes in.

There's someone in the room.

"5-0! Hands where I can see them!"

"Turn around!"

"Oh God, don't shoot!"

It's a young woman. She looks scared to death, turning around and dropping to her knees. "Please don't shoot me! I don't know anything! Please just let me go!"

Matt steps forward, gun still raised. "We're 5-0. Who are you?"

"Christine Wright." The girl answers, voice wavering.

"She's one of the kids." Peter states quickly holding his hand out for the rest to lower their weapons just as he did his own.

"Yeah." Matt agrees, holstering his weapon. "Hey, it's okay now you're safe."

"You got anything?" Kai comes into the room.

They turn around, Christine ahead of them. "Take her to the car. HPD should already be here, so take her to them and come back. We're gonna head up."

Kai nods and takes the woman, going down the stairs with her and disappearing behind the door that was just kicked open.

"You guys good to go?" Peter asks.

"Yeah brah." Ava answers at the same time Matt sighs. "Yeah. One down 12 more left."

They go up the next flight of stairs.

And that's when all hell breaks loose.

* * *

><p>"You're bleeding!" Peter yells from his cover at Matt.<p>

"Thanks for the reminder, jackass." Matt retorts, wincing at the gunshot wound at his upper arm. Peter glances over his cover at the men protecting the door that he is sure leads to the college kids before looking back at his partner. "Stay still."

He tears a long strand from his shirt and ties it tightly around the wound.

"Fuck!" Matt hisses, "you could be just a little bit gentler."

"Yeah, well you could you know not get shot." Peter quips right back.

"Yes because I jumped out and said hey you shoot me!" Mat grumbles sarcastically. "I think I'll just leave all the bullet magnet shit to you from now on, capeesh?"

Chuckling, Peter checks his six before he turns back to Matt. "Cover me?"

Eyeing Peter for a second, Matt nods. "Don't do anything stupid, GI Joe."

Peter merely grins at him before disappearing behind their cover.

Matt, of course, opens fire at the men, providing cover for Peter as he makes his way to the men. When he reaches each one, he quickly disarms them and somehow manages to get them either cuffed or unconscious by the time the others make it to him. Matt raises his brow as Peter drops the last of the men to the ground, unconscious. "Now you're just showing off."

Shrugging, Peter raises his gun and gestures to the door. "Ready?"

When he gets the nods from his team, he surges his leg forward, the locked door busting open, revealing 12 teenagers tied and gagged all huddled in a corner together. They immediately move forward cutting the ropes on the kids' wrists first, noticing how some wince and rub the sore and bleeding skin, and then their feet, finally allowing them to stand.

"I was beginning to think you guys wouldn't make it." One of the boys says in what he means to come out as a joke, but in what actually comes out as something much more serious, as if he really was afraid they wouldn't get there before they were all killed.

"We just had to make a dramatic entry, buddy. Don't worry." Peter says, putting a hand on his shoulder. "C'mon, follow me."

"Wait—" The boy stops him, grabbing Peter's arm. "You were shot!"

"No shit." Peter scoffs, glancing over at Matt who immediately moves to look at the wound and then at Ava who made a small move forward before stopping herself. "It's just a scratch. It would really help if you got your hands off it." He suggests, staring at the boy, who looks rather sheepish right about now. "We found at least a dozen of men on the second floor, but don't worry kid it's over now."

"Are you ok?" The boy hurriedly asks, eyes widening. "Y-"

"He's fine." Matt reassures him with a wild hand gesture. "He's like a superhero. Bullets don't stop him."

Peter's gaze flickered toward Ava who bit her lip to keep the smile from reaching her face. Who doesn't love irony?

Kai chuckles before clearing his throat, peeking out the door. "We have to go. The SWAT team is holding off some more men on the third floor."

The boy looked over at the blonde detective noticing the red seeping through the sleeve of his dress shirt. "Holy shit you're shot too! Are you guys sure you're okay? I'm not going out there if more men are shooting! What if I get shot!" The boy insists, a knot forming in his throat.

Ava sighs, coming closer to the frantic boy. "Don't worry. They'll be fine and so will all of you but the SWAT team needs us to go if we plan to make our window. Now let's go guys. Stay close to us and stay down. Everyone understand?"

She gains nods from the teens and she looks at Peter who stares at her in amazement before shaking his head with a small grin. "Okay, let's get you guys out of here."

Peter chooses that exact moment to step out of the room, eyes alert and checking the hallway. He doesn't see anyone.

They make their way back to the stairs, guns drawn. There's a tense atmosphere in the air, adrenaline rushing through their veins. Peter sincerely hopes it'll keep running through their veins for a long time, otherwise no one will shut Matt up when that GSW really starts to hurt.

His jaw is set, finger ready to pull the trigger and eyes sharp, going back and forward, seeing if he can spot anyone. Matt's a few kids behind him and then Ava and Kai after them spread evenly between the number of teenagers, same posture as his, he's sure, even if he has his back to them, and once they get to the stairs, they go down, slowly. It's no surprise when he sees two SWAT men running on the opposite direction of them, Peter assumes, going to provide more backup on the third floor.

After passing the hallway on the second floor, they lower their weapons. The place is surrounded by cops, so they have no need to be alert anymore. They go down the flight of stairs, and then the next one, until they're facing the front door.

"Hey, man," Peter stops a SWAT guy, making him turn towards him. "The men?" is all he asks.

The man exhales and looks him in the eyes. "They didn't surrender."

That's all the clarification Peter needs.

And an immense relief washes over him.

Because the kids are safe.

* * *

><p>The room suddenly becomes full and loud, parents and their kids reuniting in tears and Peter stands at the far corner of the room, resting his chin on his hand, watching Ava interact with them.<br>As if on cue she looks up, her gaze meeting his and he can't help but smile, half hidden behind his fingers, because she looks so happy and relieved. She smiles back and offers a little wave. A joyous woman pulls her in for a tight hug after that and Peter chuckles at her initial shocked expression.

Matt, too, is swept into the mass of reunited families and he meets their gazes one last time before he feels a small tug on his pants leg. He smiles softly and crouches down beside the young girl who had a shy smile and was holding a tiny stuffed lion that looked suspiciously like Simba from that Disney movie MJ forced him to watch with her when they were younger.

"Hey there. Shouldn't you be with your family?" He speaks softly so he doesn't scare her because according to Matt, he has this atmosphere around him that screams 'Fuck with me, I'll fuck you up' and he doesn't think that little kids would find that 'friendly'. He knows that who's ever kid she is was going to panic as soon as they realize that she's not right next to them, especially after they just got the college kids back, so he quickly glances around the happy faces of the parents to see if anyone was searching for her or in distress, only stopping when he sees a proud father and one of the college kids standing a few feet away smiling softly at them.

Peter gives them a small smile back, the corners of his lips curving even more when he spots Ava watching them as well. He turns his attention back to the young girl in front of him, his smile quickly fading at the layer of unshed tears in her soft green eyes and he starts to ask if she's okay when suddenly she lurches forward into his chest and wraps her tiny arms around his neck. Peter catches himself from tipping over backwards, his hands instinctively coming up to steady the young child. He can feel the soft stuffed animal graze the back of his neck and the wetness that starts to dampen his shirt and when he meets Ava's eyes, it's as if she's right next to him, telling him to hug the young girl back before she pops him in the back of the head for making the kid feel rejected. Of course, he doesn't want either of those things to happen so he does wrap his arms around the tiny frame of the girl, holding her firmly to his chest as she cries into his shirt.

"Hey, hey, it's gonna be okay. Everything's gonna be alright." He tightens his hold on the little girl and her cries soon die down into whimpers. She pulls back and smiles sheepishly up at Peter and Peter can't help but wipe her tears away. She holds out her stuffed lion. "Thank you for saving my big brother. This is Simba he helps me when I have bad days. My daddy says that even people like you have bad days too so I want you to have Simba so you can have good on bad days."

Peter looks at the stuffed animal held out to him and for the first time in a long, long time he feels tears prick his eyes. He slowly takes the stuffed animal and hugs the little girl one more time for good measure because that was no doubt the sweetest thing that has ever happened to him. "Thank you. I'll keep him safe, always."

The little girl grins cheekily and runs back to her family.

Peter stands, his grip on the stuffed animal tightening as he takes in everything around him. Ava smiling at him from across the room before she's pulled back into the hugs of gratitude, Matt laughing at one of the college kids' joke, Kai nodding along to a thankful mother. And through it all, Peter stood silently, mentally grappling with the fact that he and his team had been responsible for this.

This. Moments like these that validate everything they do. This is why they do this. Not for the thrill and adrenaline, the guns, cars, and fancy tech. The feeling of reward, of pride – of knowing that he had even the slightest hand in making such happiness possible – was overwhelming enough to make a grin break out on his face; slowly at first, but then infectiously, as it raced towards his ears and made his heart spill over with warmth.

* * *

><p>The wedding went smoothly, everyone made it on time all in one piece and the ceremony was beautiful. Now, at the reception, they relaxed even more after a stress-filled day. Well, all but one apparently.<br>"Why do we all have to be barefoot again?"

"Because it's a symbol. We are trying to connect with nature."

"Nature? I don't want to connect with nature. Why would I want to connect with nature?"

Peter sighs, his fingers grazing the lei around his neck. "A wedding is a ceremony in front of the earth, the sea, the air and the fire... You know, nature."

"You got it all wrong." Matt shakes his head vigorously. "A wedding is a ceremony where you sit with people you don't know, or can't stand, eat crappy food and have free drinks. Nature has nothing to do with it."

"Honestly, if you'd shut up now, I'll get you some free drinks. I promise."

"Fine..." they spend some time looking at the guests. Because silence isn't his thing, Matt starts again, his hand picking up his own lei distastefully before letting it drop back down to settle around his neck. "Tell me again, why the hell do we have to wear these bushes around our necks?"

"They're not bushes. They're leis. Would you please shut up? Look around you, it's nice. Try to enjoy the reception." He really tries to keep the exasperation out of his voice, he really does.

"I'm trying, I'm trying. But it's really hard with all the sand between my toes, and the smelly flowers, and Nahele practicing his trumpet over there." The gestures Matt makes toward Kai's cousin playing the 'trumpet' cause a few bystanders to raise their brows at the pair.

"It's not a trumpet, it's a conch shell, it's called a pu." Peter explains, smiling politely at one of Kai and Ava's relatives who decided to give them a suspicious once-over before carrying on to wherever she was going in the first place.

Completely oblivious to the people around them, Matt continues with his rants. "Does he have to use this conch shell to dig a hole in my brain?"

"Apparently he doesn't. You manage to dig a hole in my brain just by moving your lips." Peter quips, pursing his lips to refrain from laughing at Matt's absurd glare.

"That's hilarious, Peter. I'm shocked you have the time for jokes in a moment like this, I thought you were too busy connecting with nature..."

Chuckling, Peter shrugs lightly. "You're right. I am. Is there anything else, or can we stop with the questions now?"

"Hmmm... only one more, if you don't mind."

"Go ahead." Peter sighs, and gestures to him to continue with an air of generosity.

"When are you gonna ask her to dance?" Matt smirks as the commander immediately stiffens and restrains himself from looking over at the 'her' Matt referred to. She looked absolutely breathtaking in the blue maid of honor dress and he had the hardest time keeping his gaze on the star couple during the ceremony and not roam towards a certain ex-girlfriend—he has to remind himself to put emphasis on the ex—and he doesn't think now would be the best time to lose himself in his... admiration of her especially with his overeager partner right next to him. Rolling his eyes, Peter relaxes himself, his face becoming neutral again as he shifts under Matt's unrelenting gaze. "Shut up."

* * *

><p>They have barely gotten to speak a word to each other throughout the entire ceremony and part of the reception and when the music changes from the traditional Hawaiian wedding songs into other romantic songs, of course the very first one is what she had always considered their song—that is if she were into that sort of gushy stuff, which she's<em> totally not<em>, really, she swears it. And even though they're practically talking in different groups—her with her aunt, uncle, and Kai's sister, him with Matt, Chief Duke, and she thinks that particular cousin's name is Nahele— they still manage to immediately meet each other's gazes when the first few notes are played. He looks almost sinfully handsome in his tux—of course he refuses to wear any form of tie, leaving the top two buttons undone in true Castle style— and she has a hard time keeping her gaze from roaming away from his intense blue eyes.

And just as she was starting to feel uncomfortable under his hypnotizing stare, he makes his way to her—practically makes a beeline toward her—and holds out one hand to her, "Dance?"

"Peter…"

"Don't over think it, Ava. It's just a dance."

But it wasn't and they both knew it. And yet she found herself taking his hand and allowing him to lead her to the floor as their song started playing through the speakers. Peter didn't even attempt to keep up pretenses this time and he pulled her close, one hand wrapped around her waist, hand flush against her lower back, the other holding her hand between them. Somehow her other arm had made its way around his shoulders, her face next to his and that's how they spun around the floor slowly, Peter expertly leading.

At first she was very aware that the entire team was there and most of her extended family, possibly watching them, but it didn't take long before she focused solely on Peter. The feel of his body pressed fully against hers, the smell of his light cologne mixed with sand and water, the sound of his even breaths, warm on her cheek. Pulling her head back slightly, they locked gazes and continued to spin. Suddenly that dangerously familiar feeling wasn't just in her head, it was everywhere; she was hyper-aware of Peter's presence, especially where they touched—it was electric. And she was very aware of that familiar, warm sensation that was pooling in her lower belly.

Spinning slowly, his fingers started moving in slow, almost seductive, circles on her lower back and those blue eyes seemed to darken.

The air between them was thick, heavy with possibility and each other; it was almost as if the rest of the world didn't exist.

Neither was quite sure what compelled them to suddenly act so…physical with each other. Maybe it was the wedding atmosphere or maybe because they couldn't stop the onslaught of emotions that came from hearing this particular song again.

Either way, Peter was thankful they were far from the only couple on the dance floor and he had maneuvered them into a quiet corner, away from the tables and view of most of the guests.

As they danced together, neither one could fight the memory of their first dance to this same song years ago...

* * *

><p><em>"Would you just hear me out for a sec, Tiger?" Peter, in full-out Spidey mode, sighed exasperatingly, landing on the rooftop next to White Tiger.<em>

_ Scoffing, the feline heroine spun on her heel, pointing an accusatory finger at Spiderman's face. "Why should I? You've made it perfectly clear that you don't listen to me! I told you the others had those amateurs and that we could still make our reservations, but, nooo, Mr. I-was-an-avenger-all-of-three-seconds-so-I-must-help-them doesn't trust our team enough to handle three little bank robbers who didn't even bring guns!"_

_Narrowing his eyes, Peter shook his head. "That's not why I went! I do trust our team! I just wanted to provide backup if they needed it! Jeez, if me trying to help out the team was so wrong why'd you come too?"_

_"Where else would I go, idiot? You were my plans tonight and I was not about to go home and twiddle my thumbs while you inevitably got yourself in deeper trouble than what you go into in the first place!" She growls back, her eyes gaining a green hue behind her mask._

_"I don't understand why you're so mad! We just helped stopped three criminals! That's better than eating some fancy food that costs too much in my book! If it means so much to you, I'll just make reservations for next week."_

_Scoffing, Ava rolled her eyes. "It's not about the damn reservations!"_

_"Then what is it about?" He asks, his hands spreading out by his side._

_Ava stares at him resolutely, dark eyes taking in his lean strong body outlined in red and blue and she rolls her eyes again because despite being such a clueless and reckless idiot who infuriates her to no end, he still manages to make her heart beat straight out of her chest. She sighs and looks away, her anger dissolving into disappointment. "It doesn't matter. I'm going home. You can go ahead with patrol. I know you want to."_

_"Tiger." He tries but it falls on deaf ears as she makes her way across the rooftops in the directions of Aunt May's. Sighing, Peter rubs the back of his neck. He doesn't understand what happened tonight. Everything was going great, they were dressed fabulous for their night out—which had been Ava's idea— and they had just made it to the restaurant when they found out about the bank robbery. Normally, Ava would've jumped at the chance to serve justice but she had tried to persuade him to let the others handle it. Of course he couldn't do that so he had suited up and before he knew it she was at his side fighting the amateurs with them and the next thing he knows they're arguing and she's pissed at him. _

_"It's her birthday, you dumbass."_

_Spiderman jerks around looking up at Nova who had no doubly listened to the entire argument. Peter narrowed his eyes. "What?"_

_Nova slowly lowered himself and crossed his arms. "You heard me. It's her birthday."_

_"Why the hell didn't anyone tell me?" He growls, throwing up his hands. Great, just great he ruined their first real date in no telling how long on her _birthday_. Aaaand he forgot it was her birthday! No wonder she was so pissed. _

_Nova shrugged. "Thought you knew, but listen Webhead I told you when you two started this thing that you better not hurt her so I'm gonna give you a little advice. Fix this. I don't care how but you need to fix it now."_

_Spider-Man nodded. "Trust me, if I don't I'll hand myself over with pleasure. Thanks for the heads up Buckethead! It was a real help!" He bites sarcastically before making his way to his beautiful and very angry girlfriend._

_It takes him thirty minutes to formulate and execute a plan to win her over again and God, does he really need to win her over again because he can't lose her. He just can't._

_He finds her in her room working on the next night's homework, which wasn't all that surprising in itself. He stopped in the doorway to just watch her. He doesn't know how he ever managed to convince her to be one of his best friends, much less actually _date_ him, but damn is he sure glad he did because he doesn't think there is anyone else that could even hold a candle to her. _

_She doesn't look up, her focus seemingly wholly on her homework, but Peter knows better. He knows that she is aware of his presence without him even making a sound. He swears she's a ninja. Ha! His own ninja girlfriend—that is if she doesn't kill him for ruining her birthday. "What do you want?"_

_Shaking his head, Peter made his way to her, stopping next to her chair. "Whatcha doing?"_

_He can practically feel her rolling her eyes at him, but she still doesn't look up. "What's it look like, Parker?"_

_"AP Calculus, but doesn't look like you're getting far with it. Surely you don't need any help."_

_Scoffing Ava wrote the answer down to her latest question. "I'm perfectly capable of doing Calculus and you know it."_

_"Fine but I need you to take a break and put on that fabulous dress of yours you had on earlier and meet me in the living room." He finished with a smirk and straightened his bow tie._

_Ava shook her head, still refusing to look at him. "I'm tired Peter. Just let me finish this and go to bed."_

_"Tired? Well yeah, we never get any sleep around here, but can you just spare me a few minutes? Just a few and if you don't like my surprise then you can come back and do whatever you want."_

_"Or I can just do whatever I want now and you can leave me alone." Ava retorts, finishing another problem._

_"Would you just look at me for a second?"_

_"I think I'd rather be stabbed in the eyes with pin needles than look at you right now. Now go away." She grumbles, and Peter rolls his eyes. Well, if he can't get her to even look at him there's no way he'll be able to get his point across. Time to pull out the big guns..._

_"No can do. I'll stand here all night if I have to, kitten."_

_This gained the exact reaction he had hoped for. Ava slammed her pencil down on the desk. _

_"What have I told you about calling me th—" the words catch in her throat at the sight of him dressed again in his suit and she has to blink a few times to regain focus but by the time she does he's smirking again so she narrows her eyes as she realizes what he just done. Oh, that slick bastard. _

_"Score one for the super sexy boyfriend in a suit—that's me by the way— but as I was saying: dress on you now please." He makes the appropriate hand gestures pointing back at the dress hanging visibly in her closet and then to her and smiles innocently at her. _

_"I'm not putting it back on, Peter. We missed our reservations and I'm not about to go eat fast food at this time of night in a dress."_

_Peter sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "Just shut up and put the dress on please." _

_At her mildly shocked expression, his voice lowers into a softer tone, one he only uses with her, and he looks at her pleadingly. "Please, babe. I just want you to trust me on this."_

_Her features soften at his words but only slightly and when she sighs he knows he's won. "Fine. I'll be down in ten minutes."_

_He jumps up and thrusts his fists in the air excitedly. "Yes! Score two for super sexy boyfriend!" He rushes forward and chastely meets her slowly curving upward lips with his own before bolting out the door so she could change._

* * *

><p><em>Grasping Ava's hand, Peter turned the last corner and stopped abruptly, his barely contained excitement rolling off him in waves and barely countering the frustration that seeped from Ava by the second. He pulled out a keycard from his wallet and once he slid it and the door gave the telltale sound of unlocking, he tugged Ava forward again.<em>

_ Ava huffed exasperatingly. "God, would you calm down? You're acting like a damn Abyssinian."_

_Peter slows up for a second, only to look at her strangely, before starting up a staircase. "A wha—"_

_"Hyperactive cat, genius. Now will you please tell me why you have me walking up stairs in heels."_

_"You'll see." Peter hides his grin by speeding up the stairs ahead of her. As they continue up the stairs, Ava just nearly calls him every name in the book for pissing her off so many different times that night and she's about to call him one more when he reaches the roof access door and opens it for her, smiling softly when she scoffs at him._

_"Ugh, Parker, I swear if this is some sorry ass exc—" she stops abruptly when she sees what awaits her on the roof and Peter mumbles something about "score three" and "super sexy boyfriend" when he moves to stand in front of her, his childlike excitement suddenly replaced by nervousness. "So, um, I'm sorry about the reservations but not as sorry as I am about not remembering that it's your birthday. So I hope that by the end of the night, you will forgive me and not be so pissed at me because I need to see you smiling again. That smile is what makes my day and I wouldn't be able to make it another second without seeing it." _

_He clears his throat and moves to the side under the lights he had put up to reveal the table he had set up and a comfortable looking blanket to the side for stargazing. "So Happy Birthday babe." _

_When he turns back she's looking at him with a soft gaze and it makes him more nervous than he already is so he shifts uncomfortably when she moves closer to him. When she's only inches away from him, she reaches out and her hand caresses his face as she leans in slowly, but before she meets his lips with hers she hears music starting softly somewhere behind her and when she listens to the first lyrics and realizes what song he has playing she laughs, causing Peter to pull back slightly. "What?"_

_"This song. You're such a cheesy idiot." She laughs, and he does too, mostly in relief at having her not pissed at him again._

_He meets her gaze and shrugs. "Maybe. But at least I'm you're cheesy idiot."_

_"And don't you forget it." She smiles softly at him before finally meeting his lips with hers. When he pulls back, only enough to look at her, he holds out his hand. "Care to dance, my lady?"_

_Grinning at his horrid attempt at a British accent, she curtsies and plays along. "It would be an honor, sir."_

_He chuckles and pulls her close, slowly swaying back and forth. _

_They stay like that for awhile when Peter starts singing along to the music with a surprisingly smooth voice. "Like a river flows, surely to the sea, Darling so it goes, some things are just meant to be..." He trails off for a moment letting the vocalist take it away before looking at Ava deeply when the next part comes up. "For I can't help falling in love with you."_

_Ava kisses him softly once more, before teasing, "Is this your first attempt of saying the three little words that normal couples go crazy about?"_

_Peter chuckles, his thumb smoothing random circles at her lower back. "I don't know. Are you going to be the one in this relationship to go crazy over it?"_

_"I said normal couples. We're not exactly a normal couple." __She retorts cheekily, her dimples forming on both sides._

_"Well in that case... I love you, Ava." Peter says softly, his gaze flickering down nervously before settling on hers again. _

_Even though she was kinda expecting them, her heart leaps into her throat at his words, and she can't help the full grin that spreads over her lips. "I love you, too."_

_Peter exhales in relief and his rigid body suddenly relaxes against her as the biggest grin creeps onto his face. "Oh, thank God."_

_Ava laughs, pulling him closer. "Surely you weren't worried, were you?"_

_He gives her a bewildered look and nods his head. "Babe, you have no idea."_

_Rolling her eyes fondly, Ava lets a smirk slide onto her face as she leans closer. "Well, I guess that makes it score one for super sexy girlfriend in a dress—me, in case you were wondering."_

_Laughing, Peter tilted his head, playing along. "On what grounds?"_

_"Surprising the opponent." Ava states as if it was the obvious, shooting him her 'duh' face._

_"As opposed to said opponent winning the love of the super sexy girlfriend in a dress—you, of course. If anything I'd say that'd be quadruple score for super sexy boyfriend in a suit which I believe makes it seven to zip, super sexy boyfriend's favor. " Peter teasingly retorts, his hand tapping along with his justification of the 'rightful' scores at the base of her lower back._

_Scoffing, Ava grins, her brows raising for a second. "Phff, as if! I totally got the point for that and you've had super sexy girlfriend's love way before you started this game so it doesn't earn you quadruple scorings."_

_Peter stops their swaying for a second, his face freezing in a mixture of mild shock and delirious joy. "Oh, really? How long are we talking about here? I mean, I always knew super sexy boyfriend was pretty irresistible but I thought that super sexy girlfriend might've been somewhat immune to his charms."_

_She grins, shaking her head. "Not all the time, baby. Not all the time."_

_She silences his next words with a deep kiss that leave them both breathless when they part. Peter casts a glance over at the covered food he had set up before guiding her to the table. "Let's eat. I'm starving."_

_Later, when they're full and laying together gazing up at the stars, Peter turns on his side and looks down at Ava, propping his head on his hand. "So did super sexy boyfriend redeem himself?"_

_Bringing a hand up to run through his short locks, Ava smiles brightly. "Yeah, he definitely earned a couple of points on the scoreboard."_

_Chuckling, Peter watched her features with a soft smile. "Good. Good. Super sexy girlfriend has some making up to do though if she wants to win the game."_

_She stays silent for a moment, her finger coming up to trace his features before she smirks mischievously. Peter furrows his brows at the look, thinking nothing good can come from the look, his smile becoming shaky at best as he chuckles nervously. "Wha—"_

_She has him on his back and straddling him before he can finish the question. His features freeze in shock when her hands slide under his shirt, her nails lightly scrapping along his flesh causing him to chuckle and grab her wrists. "Hehe, no tickle wars tonight babe."_

_Her dark eyes sparkle with mischievous humor in the moonlight and she leans so close their noses brush. "What? I'm simply wishing to get physical with my super sexy boyfriend. Is that a crime, Webhead?"_

_He stifles the groan when images of his not so innocent fantasy pops into his mind at her words. "Well kitten the kind of physical you're talking about doesn't exactly affect me quite like the kind a teenage boy thinks of."_

_"Why don't we just do both?" She whispers, and this time her eyes meet his shyly and Peter has to really look at her to know she means it, no, to know she wants this. His eyes widen when she moves her hips with the purpose of showing him just exactly what she wants—just in case it wasn't clear. _

_"I–I," he clears his throat nervously, cause she's still inches away from his face and she's still moving her hips and God, he just realized the music is on replay. He swallows dryly and meets her gaze again because now is not the time to become Puny Parker who sucks at flirting with his girlfriend—well Puny Parker shouldn't even have a girlfriend so he guesses that's a step in the right direction. "I don't know, kitten. You sure you could handle all of super sexy boyfriend?"_

_She rolls her eyes fondly at the nickname, letting it slide this time because they have more important things happening at the moment. "The real question is could you handle all of super sexy girlfriend?"_

_His grip lessens on her wrists and he swallows again as he glances away, all jokes fleeing from his mind as he whispers, "I don't think I will be very good at it."_

_Ava's smirk falls away immediately and her hands comes up to rest on his shoulders. "And you think I will be?"_

_He stays silent, his gaze directed toward the stars. She sighs softly. "Peter, look at me." She waits until he does before continuing, "I would like for you to be my first, no matter how good it is, okay?"_

_Peter gazes at her deeply, not able to shut out the doubts and insecurities. "Trust me when I say I want this too... But you deserve the best, Ava... And I don't think Puny Parker is gonna be the best first time partner." He finishes lamely, as he turns his gaze away again._

_"Hey." She starts firmly, grabbing his attention once more. "You are not defined as Puny Parker. You're so much more than that. And the best I'm gonna get is you because even though you are far from perfect, you are just the right amount of cute idiot for me and I love every little thing about you which I wholeheartedly believe makes you the best for me."_

_He stares at her looking for any sign of deception—and of course finds nothing but love written over her features— before smiling softly, his hand tangling in her dark hair. "Are you sure, Ava?" He asks on a soft breeze, looking deep into her dark eyes. She nods her reply and leans closer, their lips brushing slightly, but he pulls back to look at her again. _

_"Sure, sure?" She laughs quietly and kisses his smiling lips as they finally stop talking for awhile._

_When it's done, they lie together under the stars, wrapped up in the blanket he had brought for mere stargazing purposes. She had her head rested on his bare chest and he had his arms wrapped around her warm body as they quietly thought over what just transpired, from the awkward apologizes when they each thought they did something wrong or when they accidentally bumped into each other to the bouts of confidence when they found something the other really liked. The music still flowed in the background with the same song stuck on replay._

_They remained this way for awhile then he turned his face toward her to see if she was asleep. She wasn't. He watched her quietly, as she stared off into space, subconsciously drawing lazy circles on his chest. She seemed deep in her own thoughts and she had a quirky grin on her face. He hated to stir her from her thoughts but he couldn't contain his curiosity. "What is it?"_

_She turns her face up, meeting his content and happy gaze. "Just really glad I was sure sure."_

_He chuckles, kissing her forehead. "God, I love you."_

_"I love you, too, Peter."_

* * *

><p>As the song ended, they finally separated, but he kept one hand loosely at her lower back, guiding them back toward their friends. Stepping off the dance floor, Peter scanned the crowd and made eye contact with Kai and realized, if the other man's expression was anything to go by, that he and Ava's intimate dance had not gone completely unnoticed.<p>

For the first time in a very long time, Peter had a complete moment of panic.

What he received was a small, accepting smile that also held a touch of warning. Peter responded with a terse nod of acknowledgement and continued toward the others even as the band called up Kai and Kate for one last dance and several other couples joined them. Ava smiles shyly at him for a second, stopping him from walking any farther. "You got better at dancing."

Exhaling a soft chuckle, Peter shrugs and shoves his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, had a bit more practice when I trained with the SHIELD agents."

Nodding, Ava glances over at Matt who quickly pretended to be doing something other than watch the two and she can't help the small giggle that slips out. "Are you sure he's not your wife, Parker?"

Peter narrows his eyes which had immediately switched over to his partner before meeting her gaze once more. "Pretty sure."

"You mean sure, sure?" She smirks when his gaze freezes for just a moment before he checks himself and his features return to neutral. "If I wasn't, I would want someone to check my head."


End file.
